Little Random Details About Me

An advantage of being in Russia.. This place is huge! There is always somewhere I can visit during the weekend and I am loving it :) This weekend, we made an impromptu day trip to Sergiev Posad. It is a 1.5-2.5 hrs drive from Moscow City, depending on the traffic conditions. The main attraction in Sergiev Posad is the Troitse-Sergiev Monastery, the spiritual home of the Russian Orthodox Church. This monastery is considered one of the most beautiful one in Russia. Within the compound of the monastery, there are various churches. Admission is free for Russians but as a foreigner (or more like Asian), there is a charge of 290 rubles. I am pretty sure Americans or Europeans will be mistaken as a Russian and be able to walk in for free. The gates of Troitse-Sergiev Monastery Upon entering the gates of the monastery, we were greeted by a beautiful wall mural  There are various churches within the compound itself. There were also mass going on in each church. Unlike the churches...

Researching for our Austria trip at the end of the month... It's the peak season in Europe now so lodging is a little tricky. But everything is falling into place now.... Looking forward to our trip :)

We caught the Swan Lake ballet performance at Hermitage Gardens. The prices of tickets here are much cheaper than those at Bolshoi. Even though the stage was much smaller than the Bolshoi, with ticket price at 500rubles, I think this is good enough for us. Managed to get a short clip of Act 2.. The prince being mesmerized by the black swan... It was a great performance. I am looking forward to watch more ballets in future.

We can never get enough of London. I enjoy the shopping, food and most importantly, there is no language barrier! I can just grab a magazine off a stand and be able to read it. For this trip to London, we visited Stonehenge and Bath on a day trip. I think 1 day is a little too short. I would prefer to have a night stay in Bath to be able to really explore the city and even go for a spa there :) Stonehenge We visited the place on a Sunday and the place was packed with tourists.  To preserve the structure, a barrier has been built around the stones. Tourists are only able to view them from afar. Even though it might just look like rocks in the middle, it took us almost 45 mins walking around and listening to the audio guide. Bath It is like a little town and it reminds me of Venice. I would love walking along all the small lanes and chilling at various small cafes if I had the time. Pulteney Bridge - the entrance to Bath. We tasted the buns from Sally Lunn, the old...

This was a project launched to draw attention to ecological problems and to demonstrate the convenience of cycling. It is the 3rd time this event is held in Moscow.  Cycling event is a first for me. I have not joined any cycling events back in Singapore before. It turned out pretty fun but super exhausting! I think it got to do with the bike too. The rental bikes in Moscow are very heavy. Renting a bike in Moscow cost 900 rubles for 4-6 hours.  We were greeted by a massive crowd of bikers at the start line at 10.30am in the morning. People played dressed up, music was booming, nice bikes all around.. it was a great crowd :) All ready at the start line... The roads were closed for half a day just for this event. Cars on the opposite side of the road that was not closed were honking, waving and cheering whenever we cycled passed. The group of Singaporeans that attended the cycling event. We cycled a total of about 20km.  I look forward to more su...

We made use of the public holiday (Russia's National Day) this week to go on a day trip to Vladimir, one of the medieval capitals of Russia, located to the east of Moscow. We headed to the bus station early in the morning at 7.30am to catch a bus. It was rather daunting at first due to the massive crowd and language barrier. This queue took us about 45mins to get to the front!  Fortunately we managed to get the tickets and hopped on to the right bus. The journey took us 4hrs. At Vladimir, all the main attractions in the town are congregated along one main street. Upon spotting the Golden Gates, we immediately hopped off the bus. This gates marked the start of the route.These gates were used as a fortress against the invasion of Russia in the 13th century.  The area is also pretty tourist friendly as they had the plan of the walking route located within sight of tourists everywhere around the town. Welcome to Vladimir :) The other main attractions are: 1. T...

Have you ever been to a circus? I do not have any recollection of going to a circus when I was young but I heard that there was a circus troop that came to Singapore in the past. Here in Moscow, there can be circus performances everyday. Despite the frequent performances, the tickets can be sold out pretty quickly. Since we had a guest in town, we decided to catch a circus performance together. We got the 600roubles tickets which I thought was good enough as the space wasn't too big.  Before the performance, the animals were all lined up outside. We saw a wide range of animals.. dogs, cats, monkeys, tigers, fox, etc. but it was a pity that photography was not allowed. Unless we pay, we were not allowed to even snap a pic of the animal. But I managed 2 pics secretly hah.  Photography was also not allowed during the show. We had performances from seals, tigers, leopard and panthers. I was expecting the appearance of more animals though. Apparently different shows hav...

1 week back in Singapore passed faster than I expected. At least I managed to do a lot of things that I wanted to and ate a lot too. My mum fed me like there was no tomorrow.  I'm also glad we managed to meet up with the girls on the day of my flight :) Till the next time I'm back.. it's now back to sitting on the sofa by my window side..

Bolshoi Theatre looks beautiful when it is lighted up at night. I was told that it is not lighted up every night. It just happens to be Victory Day (9 May) the next day thus it was lighted up.   We caught an opera that day - "The Golden Cockerel" It was my first time watching an opera and I enjoyed it :) Since the opera was in Russian, I read up on the synopsis beforehand. However there was a screen showing English subtitles during the opera as well. I'm looking forward to more performances. Maybe a ballet next...

I just participated in my first overseas race, right here in Moscow.    All ready at the start line  I definitely overestimated myself as it turned out to be a tougher race then I thought it would be. The cold was unbearable to me and I ended the race with mucus all over my sleeves hahah. I did manage to take some pics along the way though haha.. We ran past a nice theater. The most stressful thing... no one walks during the race. Not even a 70 year old granny. I think I was the last runner of the 10km race but I'm glad I completed it. I think I can do it with more practice! :)    All these races are training races that lead up to the biggest event, The Moscow Marathon, held in September. I'm looking forward to the marathon but it will just be a 10km run for me for now.  We also managed to make some new friends during the run.  Maria and her husband :) Maria has been helpful in updating me about upcoming races. Looking forward to m...