Moscow, Russia

Hello~! Did you guys miss me? I hope you do hahaha just kidding. No one misses me anyway :)

So in this entry, I wanna tell you guys about my amazing adventure in Moscow, Russia. I went to this country a few years back when I was in form 5 with my whole family. We actually went there because my dad had a company vacation with his colleagues. I can’t remember the exact date but it was around December when we went there (During our school holiday). Without further ado, let’s get right to it!

It costed around +-RM3000 for a round trip from Malaysia (KLIA, KUL) - Moscow (Domodedovo, DME). The one-way trip usually took around 17 hours and believe it or not, I spent half of that time watching my favorite Disney movies~ The in-flight entertainment offered us a lot of things including movie streaming, moderate-quality games (Multiplayer and single ofc), music and we can also watch the view outside without looking at the window by tapping on the in-flight camera.

When we arrived at DME, the place was crowded but luckily our tour guide carried something like a flag to make sure we didn’t get lost. The atmosphere was different from Malaysia. I can’t understand anything they said because they were speaking in russian language. Most Russians cant speak English #Fact. But most of the youngsters can. So when we exit through the automatic gate, it was freezing cold. IT WAS WINTER THAT TIME! AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE SNOW! (Or so I thought). It wasnt that great after being in the -20 temperature for 15 minutes. I couldnt even feel my limbs! We boarded the bus, which brought us to our hotel. We were exhausted that time (Probably jet-lag), so we rested for a while before going to dinner. The dinner was nice, we had Russian Plov, it’s basically an oily nasi goreng in my opinion, but it kinda tasted good. After dinner, the tour guide briefed us for our journey tomorrow. We had the whole day to sight-seeing, I was excited at first, before I realized it's gonna be really tiring for us. I mean, my sleep time isnt gonna be that long, who wouldnt be sad about it?

The next day, we started our journey at around 8am in the morning. Our first destination was none other than the famous ‘Red Square’. It’s called ‘Krasnaya Ploshad’ in Russian. It’s literal meaning was ofc Red Square, but the locals there interpret it as the ‘Beautiful Square’ because the word ‘red’ and ‘beautiful’ in Russian actually rhymes well. There were so many attractions in Red Square. First, it’s where the famous president of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin works! He works on the right side of Red Square, called Kremlin. In front of it, theres a mausoleum where they preserved the most respected Russian leader of all time, Lenin. I didn’t get to enter because the line was too long. On the left side, theres the oldest shopping mall in Russia, it’s called GUM (государственный универсальныйи магазин). The mall sold top-rated items, from smartphones to handbags and suits. I cant even imagine myself shopping there because they are really EXPENSIVE, like hella expensive. And finally, the most famous tourist spot there - The ‘St. Basil Cathedral’. It was so beautiful, I cant describe it with just mere words. The vivid colours painted on the walls, the architecture, the landscape, the large statue in front it- they really impressed me. We spent the whole day exploring red square, the places around it and the history behind them.

St. Basil's Cathedral

Red Square

Kremlin

On our second day, we were brought to a shopping mall called ‘European mall’. The mall was beautifully structured. There are emporiums which indicates each of the main european country - some of them were London and Paris. But the most impressive thing in the mall is ofc the shops! They actually had winter sale that time so we bought a lot of things there. On the top floor, there’s a food court where we Muslims can only eat at 1 restaurant because the rest were not halal. We had our fill there before moving on to the next destination.

European mall

At night, the tour went on although we were exhausted from shopping all day. We went to the most magical place I’ve ever seen. That place was called ‘Arbat Street’. Blinking lights everywhere, it’s as if you’re in a wonderland. Arbat street is the place where you should take your girlfriend’s picture if you’re going there with her because that place can change someone ugly to be a model. The pictures there were so beautiful. Variety colour of lights lightened up the place, turning everyone to be really photogenic. We had our amazing time there exploring the place and somehow ended up at a Starbucks, because what’s better than having iced coffee with a beautiful scenery right? We went back to our hotel at 12am and had the most peaceful and relaxing sleep throughout the night.

There’s nothing much on our last day, it was the day we left this beautiful country and going back to reality. We had a really good time there, visiting beautiful landmarks and churches, while watching beautiful sceneries along the way. It was truly an experience I could never forget.