Vladivostok - Day 1

[newroom]

More observations on Vladivostok: Definetely feel VERY SmpE here. In addition, you can drink beer here anywhere at anytime. Often see young men AND young women sitting around in the parks, beaches, pavillion-thing along the waterReviewont, in the city center, by the station, etc.. enjoying a nice cold beer. All of the kiosks have beer.. and kiosks are absolutely everywhere.

I don't see hardly any western tourists - and not even sure i'd recongize them anyways if they are caucasian. However, I do see Chinese tourists around quite a few places.. they carelessly carry their camera and camcorder around, etc. Which has made me feel a lot more comfortable carrying mine around and taking lots of pictures.

My immediate impression of this city is quite good. Was just reading elsewhere people's experiences in cities like Kiev, Ukraine. A city which seems overrun with tourists everywhere - similar to my Budapest experience. Seemed like those trying to meet girls in Ukraine had a lot of competition everywhere. That definetely isn't the case here in Vladivostok. Pretty much no competition whatsoever. Too bad I didn't know more of the Russian language however.

A few other Vladivostok observations. Every night there is a large ship docked which parties and plays loud disco music. A lot of people go dancing there. Would be another ideal nighttime place. Also, in my hotel, there is a Chinese restaurant with a large disco - with A LOT of people actually dancing there nightly (at least the last two nights). Mostly Russian people, and quite a few Russian women grouped in together visit there as well. Not sure what that is all about.. as its NOT a bar. Its a restaurant. I keep inquiring about it, but all the Russians tell me is its only a restaurant and Russians like to enjoy Chinese food there. But that disco with a good 20-25 people dancing and having a good time while eating their chinese food is STRANGE to say the least!

 

[Rachiebaby]

As to getting women. Found out that my hotel has strip shows nightly for 800 rubles for one hour. They also have different women who live on the same floor.. you can have one of the women for 1300 rubles for one hour (thats around US$50).. or 2200 rubles for two hours.

There is a contact guy here.. you just call him.. and he'll bring a woman to your room.. if you don't like her.. you can get a different one. I asked about prices negotiation, and he said they are set by the hotel.

Its leading me to believe this might be standard procedure in other bars too perhaps.. or throughout Russia? I don't know. Anyways, it exists here.

 

[roxy07]

Excellent! Keep us posted of your progress. I have heard that Vladivostok is very popular with Chinese gamblers who also go there for the cheap sex. Be persistent and good luck. Thank you NiceShot

 

[south253side]

Arrived yesterday mpternoon. Absolutely GORGEOUS weather. Couldn't have been better. Vladivostok is fairly small and very walkable - although the trmpfic was thick Reviewom the airport.. so the suburbs must hold quite a bit of population as well. Things seem actually quite wealthy here. Lots of nice cars everywhere. Prices are up there for everything.

Many people say Russia is dangerous, and Vladivostok is this rough port city. Nothing could be more Reviewom the contrary. I felt completely smpe walking around last night even as late as 3am. People everywhere, but mostly young people.. drinking is absolutely everywhere. Kiosks abound everywhere.. and drinking at the beach and the pavillion overlooking the bay and beach, etc.. is completely 100% acceptable. Maybe last night, Saturday, was an exception, but it was like being in a huge outdoor party.

On the downside.. things are incredibly expensive here. Entrance charges to most clubs are around 500 rubles (26 rubles = US$1). Sometimes 300 rubles on weekdays - I'l find out this week! Beer is anywhere Reviewom 100-300 rubles. The other problem is I can't quite find a decent comfortable place to hangout yet. Looked like a lot happens right in the streets.. and there the beer can be bought in any of the nearly 30-40 kiosks lining along the beach/ocean/pavillion thing.. and the beer is around 18-40 rubles. That seems to be the place to drink - at least on Saturday night.

Meeting women. For better or worse, apparently I look very very very very Russian. It feels good to finally blend in somewhere, but then problematic as nothing much distingues me if I'm just sitting drinking my beer.

I also haven't found a place where expats hang here either.. so very solo so far in my meanderings.

Well.. to the girls.. went to 'Yellow Submarine' disco with the 500 ruble covercharge and the 100 ruble drinks.. predominately women everywhere there dancing. I basically drank a few beers.. then as a blond russian walked by.. said 'do you speak english' to her. This initiated a conversation with her holding my hand.. completely unconvinced that I couldn't speak Russian and wasn't Russian.. but continued saying everything she could in English.. which predominately was 'why you come to russia?' a good 4-5 times. 'why?'. Later she went to the bathroom and sat down in her chair.. I said hello to her again and she gave me this 'go away' fling of her hand like she'd forgotten our conversation. Later I tried again and she invited me to sit down. She has mascara running down her eyes.. kept telling me that Russian women drink a lot.. and then somehow before i knew it.. she was dancing with some local guy.. she looked like a drunken mess.. that made things complicated.. so i moved on.

Later got up Reviewom my barstool again and tried another table.. 4 russian girls including one asian one. Turned out the Asian one was ethnic Korean who grew up in Vladivostok. The other 3 were caucasian. Two worked for a travel agency. They were very excited to meet a foreigner here in Vladivostok - and more questions of the 'why vladivostok?' and 'why russia?' questions. They warned me of the dangers of Russia.. and warned me of the Russian women. They were completely fine though.. they had their own bill which ended up being something like 5000 rubles! - like US$200 total for the four of them. They paid it and wanted to go somewhere else and spent more money again. They never asked me to pay more (unlike most other countries i know). I was shocked they had that much spending money to spend as well.. sheesh.

In short.. they even brought me back to my hotel with a taxi and didn't even take $ for my segment of that.. even though i was offering. So in short, I'd say women here are very Reviewiendly.. very nice.. very interested, etc. ALthough not sure how easy it will be to 'get lucky'.. and doesn't seem to be any info anywhere on much more than just trying to meet like that.

Also.. tons of short skirts everywhere. women ave thin and well-built on top! Gorgeous hair.. gorgeous hair - hair and eyes all colors it seems like.. with these thin little smoking bodies. I'm not generally a 'caucasian-girl lover' by any means.. anything but.. but seeing actual hot thin blondes and redheads and brunettes and such.. all dressed with their boots and skirts and tight jeans and such.. its like this alternate version of the U.S. if we hadn't discovered the Big Mac - by the way, there are no western fastfood joins in Vladivostok - although there is a lot of food. Nothing is in English - anywhere. All menus are ONLY in Russian.

So far so good.