STAVROPOL - Small Town Russia

Woolf - shelshok@usa.net

If you are looking for an undiscovered Angeles, BC or Bangkok, this is not the place. This is for the romance minded gentleman or young single male. In regards to sexually activity, I had plenty, but will not go into graphic detail or pictures, it’s just not me. If that’s what you’re looking for in a report, sorry, it isn’t here. I have tried to break the report up into a FAQ style, so if it looks like it’s all over the place, your right, writing and grammar are not my strong points.

Let the journey begin…
Living in the Dominican Republic can be best described as paradise, but sometimes you need to get away from the Latino side of life, just so you can really appreciate what you have. In recent years I have spent time in Asia, mainly Japan, Philippines and Thailand, so that was not what I was looking for. I needed something different, somewhere that’s a 180 degrees from the DR.

The solution…Russia, to be more precise, 800km South of Moscow, Stavropol.

Why Stavropol?
I have a good friend ( Steve steve@avn.skiftel.ru ) that has been living there for just over 12 months, he has an introduction company. Yes I'm going to plug him because he deserves a mention http://www.russiangirlsint.com His business is very professional and has made many guys very happy, plus he is a great host. If any of you are serious about looking for a wife, this would be good place to start. Ok...advert over :-)

Back to Stavropol, Steve is always telling me what a fantastic place it is. Streets packed with young, long legged females, all screaming out for attention and affection. Perfect place for the romance minded male or young, healthy single guy he kept telling me. Great food, cheap and perfect weather this time of year. This is too good to be true I kept telling myself, sounds too much like the DR :-) Trust me it's not, it's all true!

Where is it?
Stavropol itself is situated about 200 miles from the Black Sea and adjacent to the city are numerous high mountain ranges.
Click here to see exactly where Stavropol is located.

How to get there?
Most major airlines serve Moscow and if not, the connections from European cities are no problem. I used Lufthansa from London via Frankfurt, cost around US$350. The only problem you will have is getting from Moscow to Stavropol. You really have only two options, train (36 hrs) or fly (1.5 hrs). The problem with flying is that you cannot buy the ticket outside of Russia. I tried to buy a flight from London, forget it. A quick e-mail to Steve fixed this, he purchased the ticket locally for me and had it waiting at the airport.

Getting from the International terminal to the domestic terminal is fun. It will cost you around US$40-50 for the cab, that’s after a bit of bartering as well. Don’t use the cab drivers inside the terminal, these are Mafia run and will hit you for a US$100+. Just walk outside the terminal building and you will find a private taxi, lots! The journey takes about 1hr to the Domestic terminal.

Visas?
You basically you have two choices, tourist or business visa.

I went for a business visa via a friend (Angus Robb) in London that deals with Russian visas for a living. The process was very smooth and cost around US$200. It's worth the money, just to avoid all the bullshit. If you decide to visit, I suggest you contact a visa company or Steve, he can help and walk you through the paper work. Normally the process takes around 4-6 weeks for a tourist visa. Quicker for a business visa.

What is the town like?
Stavropol is the administrative centre of Stavropol krai (region), and has a population of 328,000. The city was founded in 1777, its major industries are great looking woman, machine building, metalworking, instrument making, and food. Also Mikhail Gorbachev was born here, remember him, they guy with the tattoo on his head.

Below are some pretty typical scenes from Stavropol.

Buildings
The balding one is everywhere!

 

Parks
As you can see, it's very green!

 

Streets
Typical streets in Stavropol, just in case you was wondering

 

Weather?
When I arrived it was snowing! So much for the perfect weather, unless you are a polar bear that is. I must say it did clear up quickly and near the end of my stay, the weather was very good (20-25 degrees), not quiet the Caribbean, but ok. If you like it a little hotter, come and visit from July to August, only downside this time of year are the mosquitoes! I only thought them bastard things lived in the DR :-)

Where to stay?
I stayed at the Intourist Hotel, situated right in the middle of town and 30 mins from the local airport. It has 4 floors and 106 rooms, built in 1989. The rooms where nice and clean, with a TV (no cable) and bar fridge. The only downside was waiting for the hot water, soon learnt that you had to let the tap run for about 20mins, other than that it was nice. Included in the room rate was breakfast, just the basic continental style. The staff seemed ok, not that I could communicate much with them :-) The manager’s name is Valentin and he speaks perfect English, any problems and he was the man.

Note: Remember to take a little ticket from the front desk every morning, otherwise you will not get breakfast.
You must register any female friends you bring into the hotel. This will cost you US$8 after 11pm. The girl will need her passport and the hotel will issue her with a registration slip.

Getting around?
Taxi is the best way and cheap, 50-80 cents a trip. Stavropols transit system is very good and not hard to use once you get the hang of it. Had a couple of interesting experiences with cab drivers asking me via Julia why "I" was bombing Yugoslavia. The first time I was asked about this I got into an argument. After this when the subject came up, I just said I was an Australian with Yugoslavian parents, that done the job every time :-)

Taxi driver taking a break :-)

Safety
I never felt uncomfortable once, Stavropol appeared to be very safe. Just make sure you carry your passport and visa. If you get stopped by the police and you don't have it, you are going to jail! A bribe will get you out, but why go through the grief.
I was told that the guy's that wear the black leather jackets are the worst cops to deal with. I never found out.

Try to always exchange money at a bank or registered exchange house. If you do it on the street you will get a slightly better rate, but you may be getting counterfeit notes.

Deposit boxes are available at one of the local banks. US$3 per month. I personally didn't use one and never had a problem at the hotel.

Food?
Just excellent! I didn’t have a bad meal and the mushrooms and tomatoes are to die for. The quality of the food was very good, much better than I imagined. It’s also very cheap to eat out, often I ate out and the most I ever paid for the two of us was one night at the best restaurant in town, US$12.50! Tipping is not customary in Russia, so it goes a long way when you do it.

What to do?
Other than looking and chasing girls…err?

Walk in the park... I was told that Russians love to walk in the park. Closer to the truth is that they have no money to do anything else :-) Actually walking in the parks is great fun, with or without a girl on your arm. I can honestly say I have never seen so many single, stunning females in one place, ever. If you like short skirts, long legs and great bodies, this place is heaven. A couple of times I went out with Steve and was used as bait to attract girls. Being a little younger and better looking, I attracted more attention than him. As soon as I got a bite, he was in for the kill. This is where a little Russian helps. Needless to say his average was much better than mine.

My wife has stepped out... This is the translated name of a Restaurant located in the suburbs of Stavropol. It’s popular place with local men to take their girlfriends. Attached to the main building is a sauna that has small rooms attached. Just the right place to take that special person for a meal and some fun afterwards. Will cost you around US$4-6 per hour. Well worth a visit and try and book the sauna up front, it can get busy :-)

Discos... Stavropol has a few and I had a lot of fun. The girls love to dance and will try and get your attention, especially when they here you speak English. Had a couple tell me that it was the first time they had ever seen an Englishman! Most of these girls know very little English, but you will find the odd one that does. It's amazing what you can communicate with your hands and other bodily parts :-)

The girls
Before I go on, the young lady you see below is with whom I spent "most" of my time. This will give you an idea of the type of woman that can be found all over Stavropol. Fluent in English and, well the rest needs no introduction. Yes, I’m going back in about 8 weeks, do you blame me? Before you ask, her eye's are fine thank you.

Julia...
Even us ugly guy's do ok :-)

Back to the other girls... So many love to meet non Russian men and will go out of their way to attract your attention. I found most of the girls I meet to be very open and most knew how to get what they wanted. Be a gentleman on the first date and go for the kill on the second, it worked for me. Well with most, one took a little more Vodka than others :-) Don't try and compete on drinking unless you are a hardened alcoholic. When you have sat down and watched a girl put away almost 1.5 liters of vodka you will know what I mean.

When you are the only "American" in town, you attract lot's of attention. Most girls will not look you in the eye directly, but when you get that second glance, the green light is on. It took me a while to catch onto the subtle signs, (always been a slow learner) but I got there.

The girl on the far left is called Olga, her picture does not do her justice. In the flesh she is Playboy material. The downside for me is that she only spoke a few words of English. I gave it my best shot, almost ate the phrase book a few times, but...
In case you read this Steve, good luck!

I will not go into detail about the others, I will let the pictures and your imagination figure it out.

And you ask me if I'm going back!

A small word about pirate software
You name it, you can find it. How about a copy of the full version of Office 97, PhotoShop 5, Windows 98 and Corel Draw 8 for just US$3. That’s total cost for all titles! Music CD’s are all over the place and will cost you around US$2 per CD.

Useful links

Conclusion
As I said at the beginning, this is a place for the romance minded and young single males among us.
The bottom line for me, I feel in love with the town, it's mushrooms and 1 or 2 of it's inhabitants, so much so that I'm going back at the beginning of August. It's not as cheap getting here as some other destinations, but is well worth the extra expense in my opinion just for the experience.

If you do decide to add Stavropol to your list, I strongly suggest you drop Steve an e-mail. His help and knowledge is invaluable.