Novosibirsk, Russia: 4 Days In Siberia’s Third City
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia (1.6 million people) and the unofficial capital of Siberia. It is 3,300 km east of Moscow and you reach it by spending two nights on the Trans-Siberian, or three hours on a flight from Sheremetyevo. The city sits roughly at the geographic centre of Russia, which is marked by a small Orthodox chapel placed dead in the middle of the main avenue.
The city is younger than the country it is in. It did not exist before 1893, when surveyors from the Trans-Siberian Railway settled on this stretch of the Ob River as the cheapest place to bridge the water. A workers’ camp went up around the construction site, then a railway settlement called Novonikolayevsk (after Tsar Nicholas II), then a Soviet industrial centre renamed Novosibirsk (“new Siberia”) in 1926. By the time the USSR collapsed it had passed 1.4 million people. It is one of the fastest-growing cities of the 20th century anywhere in the world.
The reason most of the architecture is Stalinist or Khrushchev-era is World War II. When the Wehrmacht reached European Russia in 1941, Stalin ordered hundreds of factories disassembled, loaded onto freight trains, and shipped to Siberia where they were re-erected behind the Urals. Novosibirsk absorbed about 50 of them, along with hundreds of thousands of evacuated workers, the Leningrad Philharmonic, and most of the Tretyakov Gallery’s art collection. It produced tanks, aircraft, and ammunition for the rest of the war.
The post-Soviet city is doing the thing every other ex-Soviet capital is doing: new condo towers shooting up between Stalinist blocks, foreign retail next to ancient kiosks, a Metro system that opened in 1986 and a Chapel of St. Nicholas rebuilt in 1993. Below: 62 photos from four September days in 2017, an embedded video review, and a story about the three Americans who decided to move here.
A Video Review Of Novosibirsk
Krasny Prospekt And The Geographic Centre Of Russia
Krasny Prospekt (“Red Avenue”) is the spine of Novosibirsk, a seven-kilometre boulevard that runs the length of the city north to south. It was laid out in 1896 by the Trans-Siberian railway engineers and lined with whatever the city built next: Stalinist apartments in the 1930s, the Opera in the 1940s, glass condos in the 2010s.
The single most photographed spot is the white-and-gold Chapel of St. Nicholas, which sits in the middle of the avenue. It was built in 1914 to mark the geographic centre of the Russian Empire (which Siberia very much was at the time) and as a thank-you for 300 years of Romanov rule. The Bolsheviks demolished it in 1930. The current building is a 1993 reconstruction.
Stopping at the panda smoothie kiosk on Krasny Prospekt my second hour in town. Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia (1.6 million), the unofficial capital of Siberia, and it really wants you to know it has the same coffee chains as Moscow now.
Krasny Prospekt (Red Avenue) is the main thoroughfare, running 7 km straight through the city. The little white-and-gold chapel in the middle distance is the Chapel of St. Nicholas, which sits dead in the centre of the road.
A Stalinist apartment block on Krasny Prospekt with a giant rooftop sign for Rosgosstrakh, the state-founded insurance giant that goes back to 1921 Soviet decree. The gold dome on the right is the same St. Nicholas chapel.
Chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Часовня Святого Николая), originally built 1914 to mark Russia's geographic centre and the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. The Bolsheviks demolished it in 1930. The current chapel is a 1993 reconstruction.
The Gastronomic Theatre (Гастрономический Театр), a kitschy themed restaurant on a Pelourinho-coloured wooden facade decorated with carved figures. The Novosibirsk hipster food scene leans hard into Soviet nostalgia and circus aesthetics.
Two bright-blue modern apartment towers rising directly behind a small surviving merchant building from the early 1900s. This collision is the Novosibirsk skyline in one frame.
Looking south down Krasny Prospekt at street level: Rosgosstrakh sign on the left, the St. Nicholas chapel at the vanishing point, traffic moving at a Siberian-rush-hour pace.
Lenin Square And The Largest Theatre In Russia
The centre of civic Novosibirsk is Lenin Square, a wide plaza dominated by the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. The theatre is the largest in Russia by interior volume, with a 60-metre dome that was originally designed in 1931 to enable revolutionary mass-spectacles, things like 1,000-strong choirs and tanks driving across the stage. Construction took 14 years. It opened on 12 May 1945, three days after Victory Day.
The square is named for Lenin because there is a Lenin statue on it, and it is anchored by the 1922 “Monument to the Fighters for the Soviet Power” group: a worker, a Red Army soldier, a partisan, and two allegorical figures with a torch and a laurel branch.
Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, the biggest theatre building in Russia and the largest theatre in the world by interior volume. Construction started in 1931 as an experimental machine for revolutionary mass spectacles and finished in 1945. It opened on 12 May 1945, three days after Victory Day.
Three giant bronze "Red Banner" figures on Lenin Square in front of the Opera. A worker, a Red Army soldier, and a partisan, monument to the heroes of the October Revolution and the Civil War, unveiled in 1922.
The other half of the same monument: two figures with a torch and a laurel branch, the symbolic future the Revolution was supposedly forging. The Opera Theatre's grey dome anchors the square behind.
A flower column of pink and white petunias on a downtown corner, the Austrian-owned Raiffeisen Bank sign behind it. Foreign banks were everywhere in Novosibirsk in 2017, before sanctions chased most of them out a few years later.
Underground shopping arcade in the city centre. Russian downtowns have a parallel underground retail layer that opens up around metro entrances and stays warm in winter.
Resin hedgehog figurines for sale in a tourist shop, 400 to 550 rubles each. The hedgehog (yozhik) is a beloved Soviet cartoon character thanks to <em>Hedgehog in the Fog</em> (1975), the most acclaimed animated short in Russian history.
Cathedral Of Saint Alexander Nevsky: The First Stone Building
Until 1899 there was no major stone building in Novosibirsk. The town was still wooden, still called Novonikolayevsk, and still only six years old. The Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky was the first thing built to last: a red brick neo-Byzantine cathedral commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II in memory of his father Alexander III, who had ordered the Trans-Siberian Railway and indirectly created the town.
The Bolsheviks closed the church in 1937, dynamited its bell tower, and used the structure as a film studio, an archive, and a House of Culture for over 50 years. It was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1989 and reconsecrated in 1991. The gold-leaf interior has been almost completely restored.
First glimpse of the Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky through the trees. The red-brick neo-Byzantine cathedral (1899) was the first major stone building in Novosibirsk, when the city was still called Novonikolayevsk and was a brand-new Trans-Siberian railway settlement.
Side view of the cathedral, the gold central dome and four smaller chapel domes around it. Built by order of Tsar Nicholas II in memory of his father, Alexander III, who had ordered the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1891.
Looking up at the main facade. The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral in 1937, dynamited its bell tower, and used the building as a film studio, an archive, and a House of Culture until it was finally handed back to the church in 1989.
The Russian Orthodox three-bar cross silhouetted against the sun. The lower slanted bar represents the footrest on which Christ's feet rested at the crucifixion.
Inside the cathedral: the gold iconostasis (the wall of icons that separates the nave from the altar) restored after the Soviet-era stripping, blue-painted vault overhead with frescoes.
Detail of the main chandelier (the polychandelion) under the central dome, ringed with candle holders. The fresco above shows Christ Pantocrator and angels.
Icon of the Sobor (Synaxis) of Russian Saints, every Orthodox saint canonised on Russian soil arranged in rows in liturgical robes. Russia produced over 1,000 official saints between the 11th century and the 1917 Revolution.
Wall fresco of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, a 4th-century group of Roman soldiers in modern Turkey who refused to renounce Christianity and were forced to stand naked overnight in a frozen lake. One Russian saint who appears constantly in Orthodox iconography.
A worshipper in a black leather jacket lighting a candle before an icon stand. Russian Orthodoxy is broadly tolerated, broadly state-backed since the late 1990s, and observed by maybe a third of the population in practice.
Priest in yellow vestments leading a small Sunday liturgy with two elderly worshippers. Russian church services are sung standing for two to three hours, no pews.
The Ob River: Why The City Exists
Novosibirsk exists because the Trans-Siberian Railway needed to cross the Ob, and Russian engineer Nikolai Garin-Mikhailovsky picked this exact spot in 1891 as the cheapest place to do it. The construction camp around the 1897 railway bridge became the town. There is a bronze statue of Tsar Alexander III on the embankment as a small acknowledgement of who started the whole thing.
The Ob itself is the seventh longest river in the world (3,650 km) and the main waterway of western Siberia. It freezes from late October to mid-April. The original 1897 truss bridge is still in use for freight trains and is one of the most photographed structures in town.
The Ob River running through Novosibirsk, with the original 1897 Trans-Siberian Railway truss bridge on the right. The reason the city exists at all is that Russian engineer Nikolai Garin-Mikhailovsky surveyed this site as the cheapest place to bridge the Ob, founding a workers' camp here in 1893.
Closer view of the railway bridge and the green Soviet-era guardhouse. The Ob is the world's seventh longest river (3,650 km) and the main waterway of western Siberia, frozen six months of the year.
Detail of one of the green guard towers on the river embankment, dating to the Soviet period when key infrastructure was kept under continuous military watch.
The Ob at low water in September, a stony beach exposed on the city side. The Novosibirsk Reservoir 30 km upstream regulates the flow, and water levels here can shift several metres seasonally.
A floating houseboat-barge on the Ob with the new construction skyline rising behind. Foreign and domestic real-estate investment poured into Novosibirsk in the 2010s, with cranes still active across the river.
Love locks attached to the iron railing of the bridge over the Ob. A modern Russian tradition: couples lock a padlock onto a bridge railing and throw the key into the river.
Bronze statue of Tsar Alexander III on a granite plinth bearing the Russian double-headed eagle. Alexander III is the reason Novosibirsk exists: he signed the imperial order in 1891 to build the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the workers building the Ob bridge founded the city two years later.
Looking out across the Ob through pine trees to the residential suburbs on the far bank. Novosibirsk is split across both sides of the river, connected by four bridges.
An orange KAMAZ dump truck and a Komatsu excavator on the riverbank under one of the bridge supports. Soviet truck brands like KAMAZ still dominate Russian construction sites, increasingly mixed with Japanese heavy machinery.
A floating restaurant moored to the Ob embankment. "Resto-club" boats are a Russian summertime fixture, especially in inland river cities.
Trains, Metro, And The Trans-Siberian
Novosibirsk-Glavny is the biggest train station in Siberia, a mint-green building completed in 1939, originally designed in the shape of an early-Soviet steam locomotive viewed from above. It is the midpoint of the Trans-Siberian Railway, three days east of Moscow and four days west of Vladivostok.
The Novosibirsk Metro, opened in 1986, is the only metro east of the Urals and one of only seven in the former USSR. Two lines, 13 stations, deep Soviet escalators, the works.
Aeroflot, the old Soviet state airline, has its regional office in a battered light-blue 1930s Constructivist building with the original hammer-and-sickle-and-wings emblem still in place above the door.
Inside a Novosibirsk Metro train: man in army camouflage standing at the pole, families seated, a baby in a pink stroller with a cartoon backpack. The Novosibirsk Metro opened in 1986, the only metro east of the Urals.
"Прирородный Вокзал" (Suburban Railway Station) with its mint green clock tower, displaying 15C, 746mmHg, 45% humidity. The RZhD (Russian Railways) red logo above the entrance.
Pigeons foreground, mint-green Novosibirsk-Glavny main railway station behind. Glavny means "main" and the building was completed in 1939, originally designed in the shape of an early-Soviet steam locomotive.
A young Russian woman in a leather jacket and backpack on the station plaza, looking up at the temperature board. This is the standard early-autumn outfit before the real cold comes in.
Train schedule board inside Novosibirsk-Glavny: departures to Moscow, Vladivostok, Beijing, and dozens of Siberian towns. The Trans-Siberian runs from Moscow to Vladivostok in seven days, with Novosibirsk roughly at the midpoint.
The West Siberian Railway headquarters (Западно-Сибирская Железная Дорога), a yellow Stalinist building topped with a glassed-in rotunda crown. The agency runs roughly a quarter of Russia's rail network.
The old Aeroflot building on a downtown corner: light blue weathered facade with АЭРОФЛОТ in raised gold letters and the Soviet hammer-and-sickle-and-wings emblem above. Aeroflot was the only airline in the USSR (founded 1923) and is still the Russian flag carrier.
Novosibirsk From The Rooftops
The best view of Novosibirsk is from a residential rooftop. Most of the city is low-rise: Stalinist blocks from the 1930s and 1940s along Krasny Prospekt, five-storey Khrushchyovkas (Nikita Khrushchev’s mass-produced 1957 apartments) filling everything else, with the occasional 25-storey condo tower from the 2000s rising over the top.
The cooling towers visible on the horizon are the Novosibirsk TPP-2 thermal power plant, one of three coal-fired combined heat-and-power stations that heat and power the city. Soviet engineering kept district heating as the default for residential apartments and most flats still have hot water and radiators piped in directly from the plant.
The Cathedral of Ascension (Voznesensky Sobor, foundation laid 1913, completed in stages through 1947) is one of the very few churches in Novosibirsk that never closed during the Soviet period, and its twin gold domes are visible from most of the rooftop angles below.
Heading up to a rooftop: a crumbling grey Soviet panel block on the left, a glassy modern condo on the right. Side by side, two eras of Russian housing competing for the same square block.
On the rooftop, central Novosibirsk spread out below. The whole city is visible from here on a clear day, low pastel Stalinist blocks giving way to scattered modern towers and ending at the industrial chimneys on the horizon.
Central Novosibirsk from above: Krasny Prospekt cutting diagonally, Stalinist and pre-revolution buildings mixed with new condos, the Cathedral of Ascension's gold domes catching light to the right.
Looking out at the Novosibirsk TPP-2 thermal power plant cooling towers smoking in the distance. The city is heated and powered mostly by coal-fired CHP plants that double as district heating sources, a Soviet design that still works.
Mid-rise Soviet residential blocks in the foreground, rooftop greenery sprouting, newer condos rising on the back slope. This is most of the city.
Krasny Prospekt from above: Stalinist apartment blocks left, Soviet government building dark on the left, the Cathedral of Ascension's green roof and gold domes on the right.
Closer ground-level view of the Cathedral of Ascension (Voznesensky Sobor): two gold onion domes plus a side bell tower with a third gold dome, green roof. Its foundation stone was laid in 1913 and it stayed open through almost the entire Soviet era, one of the few churches in Novosibirsk that never closed.
The same Cathedral of Ascension seen from above in tilt-shift, the twin gold domes sitting in a sea of grey Soviet panel housing. The visual one-line summary of religion's place in late-Soviet Russia.
Sun rays cutting through clouds over the Ob River, factory chimneys with steam rising on the horizon. Siberian autumn light at its most dramatic.
Soviet "khrushchyovka" five-storey panel apartments packed close together, the construction style Nikita Khrushchev ordered mass-produced from 1957 to clear post-war housing shortages. Designed for 25 years, most are still standing 60 years later.
Aerial of the same dense Soviet residential district, tetris blocks in the foreground and modern towers in the back. Novosibirsk grew from 100,000 people in 1929 to 1.4 million by 1991, and most of the housing dates to that explosion.
Aerial close-up of the old Aeroflot building, different angle from the street view. A six-storey example of late-1930s Constructivist civic architecture, plus the Soviet airline emblem.
Central Novosibirsk: the Stalinist Rosgosstrakh building on the left, a new blue apartment tower with golden spire still under construction in the middle distance, the Cathedral of Ascension visible far right.
Roofers replacing tin roof panels on a Soviet-era building, the old brick chimney still standing prominently. After the 1991 collapse, infrastructure maintenance lapsed for a decade and the rooftops are still being redone.
Tilt-shift of an enclosed playground (basketball court inside a green metal fence) between Soviet panel blocks. Russian apartment courtyards almost always have a fenced playground inside, a holdover from Soviet planning.
Tilt-shift of Krasny Prospekt with the Cathedral of Ascension on the right and Stalinist blocks on the left, the central spine of the city.
Tilt-shift aerial of Soviet panel housing in the foreground, central business district highrises rising in the back. Most of the new towers are residential.
Wide panoramic of Novosibirsk under broken cloud, sun rays cutting down through a gap. The single most cinematic shot from the rooftop session.
Tilt-shift of the mix of Soviet panel blocks and modern apartments, hazy distant industrial zone behind.
Tilt-shift of a busy Novosibirsk intersection with a high-rise under construction, cranes, bus stops, traffic. The city has been in continuous build mode since the early 2000s.
A Soviet Plaque And A Night Out
Two final shots that say what kind of place Novosibirsk is in 2017. The first is a brass plaque on an ordinary office building commemorating Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the USSR from 1964 to 1980, who worked here in his twenties as a consumer-cooperative official. Kosygin was the architect of the 1965 Soviet economic reforms, the last serious attempt to make the planned economy work. Brezhnev quietly killed them. The plaque is from the 1980s and nobody has felt the need to take it down.
The second is from a night out: me on the far left with three Americans who had moved to Novosibirsk on purpose, plus one Russian friend. The expat scene in Siberia in 2017 was small but real, mostly English teachers, a few startup people, a handful of tech transplants. Sanctions, COVID, and the 2022 war have mostly ended it.
Brass plaque commemorating Alexei Kosygin (Premier of the USSR from 1964 to 1980) who worked in this building from 1926 to 1930 as a young consumer-cooperative official. The two five-pointed stars below are Hero of Socialist Labor medals. Kosygin was the architect of the 1965 Soviet economic reforms, the last serious attempt to make the planned economy work, which Brezhnev quietly killed.
On a night out in Novosibirsk with three Americans who had decided to move here, plus one Russian friend. The expat scene in Siberia in 2017 was small but real, mostly English teachers, a few startup people, a handful of tech transplants. Sanctions and the 2022 war have mostly ended it. This is me on the far left.
Conclusion
Novosibirsk is the most representative Russian city outside Moscow and St. Petersburg: rapidly growing, rapidly modernising, still architecturally Soviet, still organised around the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Ob River and a Stalinist opera house. Two or three days is plenty to see it. Worth a stop if you are doing the Trans-Sib.
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1 Comment
Dave Wilson·
We, Went on the Trans Siberian Railway 1977 when the USSR was still a communist state. Stopped off in Novosibirsk for over two days. The hotel had a woman on each floor who sat at her desk near the stairs and controlled the room keys each time we went out and arrived back. Our lady would keep them locked up in her desk draw and was a little officious or maybe just bored, but there was no unemployment in Russia we were told. The room was clean and livable but I noticed the roof of the apartment block across the street had a few loose tiles in one place and I wondered what happened when it rained. There was a huge single red plastic tulip structure outside imbedded into the pavement.
Went to the ballet one night. The performers were quite good with the occasional slip up but they were not the Bolshie Ballet Company. The venue was packed and at the end there were so many bunches of flowers present to the performer’s. I must confess that I did nod off a few times and was prodded by my girl friend when I did so.
The food was acceptable, but I have to say that one day on our trip we were given cucumber as part of our meal at breakfast, dinner and tea. I had to laugh when, in a film, Yule Brinner played a Russian Officer who was having a meal with the captured tourists who happened to cross over the boarder accidently and which was regarded as an international incident. Yule asked an American tourist if he liked cucumber as he was slicing his own up. The American nervously replied that he did. Yule replied. “I hate them, but in Russia, you eat what you are offered.”
The next day, we were walking around in a group and came across a shop that just sold cucumbers and one of our crew said that she loved cucumbers and went in to buy one. She came out with two very big bags of them. We all laughed and asked what had happened. She said, ” I gave her a rubble and she gave me these. What do I do with them?” I can’t remember what she did with them.
We were in an open market one afternoon where people were selling odd items from tables. Home garden produce in small amounts were on sale and one person had about a dozen small apples for sale. A potential customer picked one up and held in both hands and twisted it into two halves, so he had to be very strong to do that or their is a knack to it. It had a worm or whatever in it and the brown track mark maggots leave behind. The customer looked at the purveyor and said something and then tossed the pieces into the air towards him and walked away. Shortly after there was a commotion of excitement, as people around communicated with each other, as they quickly moved to congregate into the traditional Russian shopping line for a sought out product. We investigated and realised that there were about ten or more cases of oranges that had arrived which were in big demand.
We were taken to a Russian Orthodox Church , a beautiful place where the congregation were singing so beautifully, the priest had a very deep voice like Ivan Rubinoff. We felt as if we were intruding as it was obvious the congregation was not happy about being presented to the tourists as they were, but it was lovely singing and I am grateful for the experience.
One evening we went down to the Ob River where except for a big stocky Russian was deserted. The sun was setting and the Russian guy strolled over and he had a unlit cigarette in his mouth and he obviously was making signs that he wanted a light. I pulled out a box of matches that were of Asian origin. He looked at them with much interest, struck one to light his cigarette and put the box in his pocket. He said something in a voice that did not make me comfortable about asking for them back, and he walked away. He was welcome to them.
One night about half a dozen of us went to the hotel restaurant as we heard a live band performing. We did not know that it operated as a club in the evening. We went in and felt a little uncomfortable as it was obvious that we were tourists which sparked some interest from the clientele. We did not feel that welcome really. However, we bought some beers and sat at our table. The clientele were enjoying themselves just like we would in a club of our own, we began to feel more relaxed and had a few more beers although we did not get up to he dance floor. I have to say that Russian women are generally nice looking and some more so. We had other experiences and I am glad that we did stop over in Novosibirsk, but I sometimes think that the three weeks or more that we spent in the USSR was too long. One thing though, we went to Asia when it was not as westernised as it is these days and I believe that it was probably more interesting then than now. As for the people, generally I think they just want a happy life like we do, but politics, bad rouge and dishonest people, and increasing mad population growth in some countries, just keeps on messing things up.
We, Went on the Trans Siberian Railway 1977 when the USSR was still a communist state. Stopped off in Novosibirsk for over two days. The hotel had a woman on each floor who sat at her desk near the stairs and controlled the room keys each time we went out and arrived back. Our lady would keep them locked up in her desk draw and was a little officious or maybe just bored, but there was no unemployment in Russia we were told. The room was clean and livable but I noticed the roof of the apartment block across the street had a few loose tiles in one place and I wondered what happened when it rained. There was a huge single red plastic tulip structure outside imbedded into the pavement.
Went to the ballet one night. The performers were quite good with the occasional slip up but they were not the Bolshie Ballet Company. The venue was packed and at the end there were so many bunches of flowers present to the performer’s. I must confess that I did nod off a few times and was prodded by my girl friend when I did so.
The food was acceptable, but I have to say that one day on our trip we were given cucumber as part of our meal at breakfast, dinner and tea. I had to laugh when, in a film, Yule Brinner played a Russian Officer who was having a meal with the captured tourists who happened to cross over the boarder accidently and which was regarded as an international incident. Yule asked an American tourist if he liked cucumber as he was slicing his own up. The American nervously replied that he did. Yule replied. “I hate them, but in Russia, you eat what you are offered.”
The next day, we were walking around in a group and came across a shop that just sold cucumbers and one of our crew said that she loved cucumbers and went in to buy one. She came out with two very big bags of them. We all laughed and asked what had happened. She said, ” I gave her a rubble and she gave me these. What do I do with them?” I can’t remember what she did with them.
We were in an open market one afternoon where people were selling odd items from tables. Home garden produce in small amounts were on sale and one person had about a dozen small apples for sale. A potential customer picked one up and held in both hands and twisted it into two halves, so he had to be very strong to do that or their is a knack to it. It had a worm or whatever in it and the brown track mark maggots leave behind. The customer looked at the purveyor and said something and then tossed the pieces into the air towards him and walked away. Shortly after there was a commotion of excitement, as people around communicated with each other, as they quickly moved to congregate into the traditional Russian shopping line for a sought out product. We investigated and realised that there were about ten or more cases of oranges that had arrived which were in big demand.
We were taken to a Russian Orthodox Church , a beautiful place where the congregation were singing so beautifully, the priest had a very deep voice like Ivan Rubinoff. We felt as if we were intruding as it was obvious the congregation was not happy about being presented to the tourists as they were, but it was lovely singing and I am grateful for the experience.
One evening we went down to the Ob River where except for a big stocky Russian was deserted. The sun was setting and the Russian guy strolled over and he had a unlit cigarette in his mouth and he obviously was making signs that he wanted a light. I pulled out a box of matches that were of Asian origin. He looked at them with much interest, struck one to light his cigarette and put the box in his pocket. He said something in a voice that did not make me comfortable about asking for them back, and he walked away. He was welcome to them.
One night about half a dozen of us went to the hotel restaurant as we heard a live band performing. We did not know that it operated as a club in the evening. We went in and felt a little uncomfortable as it was obvious that we were tourists which sparked some interest from the clientele. We did not feel that welcome really. However, we bought some beers and sat at our table. The clientele were enjoying themselves just like we would in a club of our own, we began to feel more relaxed and had a few more beers although we did not get up to he dance floor. I have to say that Russian women are generally nice looking and some more so. We had other experiences and I am glad that we did stop over in Novosibirsk, but I sometimes think that the three weeks or more that we spent in the USSR was too long. One thing though, we went to Asia when it was not as westernised as it is these days and I believe that it was probably more interesting then than now. As for the people, generally I think they just want a happy life like we do, but politics, bad rouge and dishonest people, and increasing mad population growth in some countries, just keeps on messing things up.