I woke up at 5 from the jet lag and I couldn't sleep. I tried to find a hostel on Yandex Travel. I wanted to book "High level hostel", which is somewhere on a building in Moscow City, then I looked at the reviews on Yandex, and there are only 2 toilets for 40 people. That's bad.

Booking hostels was already giving me a headache. Almost none of them have enough toilets. So I probably won't stay in the city center. Where then? I thought about Sokolniki. I have long dreamed of walking in Sokolniki.

I am staying in Винтерфелл Сокольники.

While I am still here, let's go walk in Moscow City, a region kind of like Lujiazui in Shanghai. Then we can head back to check out of the hotel, drop our baggage, head to the bank and MTS, and then go to Sokolniki.

You don't often see Russian smiling on streets. But it doesn't mean these are bad people. There are bad problems, but most of them are bureaucratic.

It is past 6 am.

A group of soldiers are standing outside of the Kiev metro station.

I kept trying to scan my card at the metro exit, even though I could've just walked out.

Вот Москва Сити

Breakfast in central Moscow, 600 Rubles for хлеб, йогурт, салат и сыр.

Of course you can sit down to eat in this store, and the environment is very nice. And I came here as if I lived here every single day of my life.

Вот конфеты

Торговый центр Афимолл. It's still early and the shopping center is closed.

A lot of construction in the distance

The day is getting hot

I walked around Moscow City. And I realized Kievskaya is actually close by, so I walked back along the river to the Kievsky Railway Station.

I left the hotel. I dropped off my luggage. And right away I lost Internet access.

I am going to Sberbank for biometrics.

Ok, let's slowly recount our experience there.

It's like a loop - you need a SIM card for a phone number, you need biometrics for the SIM card, you need to get a bank card for biometrics, and you need a phone number for the bank card. How do you break the loop? You need your passport, the migration card, your visa, a Gosuslugi account, proof of residential registration from the hotel. Then you provide your biometrics. And the card would finally work. Plus you need to speak Russian with the staff.

My visit to Sberbank was very pleasant. There was no line at 11 am, and the staff member was very kind. Her name is Yekaterina. She told me to get the bank card here tomorrow. My phone is in Russian, and I understand everything, but when I tried to speak there were still some broken words. But she was kind and understood everything fine. I gave all my documents, but she kept saying, "Регистрация", "Регистрация".

What is registration? She said it was a hotel receipt. I tried to show it to her on Yandex Travel, but it didn't work. I panicked a little and grabbed the receipt the hotel had given me when I checked out - I was planning to throw it away.

First she set up her Iphone hotspot for me. Then I opened Gosuslugi. Then I provided my biometrics.

She looked at me again as if trying to "verify" I am the same person on the passport. Then she took a photo of me. Then I need to read the numbers 0-9 in Russian, and in reverse order, and then some random digits.

I finished everything and she helped me register on Gosuslugi. She told me to buy an MTS card. I said I already have one, and she helped me activate the card. Then I tried inserting it into the SIM slot, and the slot broke. She told me to come tomorrow for my Sberbank card. Then after a while she told me to left. And somehow I fixed the slot myself, and now it works. Thank god.

У меня есть Интернет! Давай.

I couldn't imagine how to go through this withotu speaking Russian. Of course, you can just sign up for a group tour to travel to Russia.

The sim card works within 3 days. Не сложно, да?

I went back to my hotel to get my baggage.

Portrait of Putin inside the hotel

I am going to Sokolniki.

Another group of soldiers.

I wanted to buy tickets for ballet. But somehow today everything is sold out.

Tickets for Bolshoi tomorrow starts at 21000 Rubles. While the cheapest one is 7000 Rubles, they had already been booked out. Almost all seats are sold out. Ballet is certainly expensive, but I can't wait to see it. I haven't see a real ballet performance in real life, it was only on YouTube.

In the hotel and in the metro I saw two groups of south Asian men, speaking a language I cannot understand.

Сокольническая площадь

There are women in hijabs here.

So guys, I am at the винтерфелл хостел.

And there are some south Asian men here as well, or wherever they are from. I don't trust them.

The room doesn't have windows.

Slippers, 180 Rubles. I am tired, and it's around 4 pm now.

I realized I had misunderstood this place. It's a hotel, and I booked a room with a double bed. I thought the room was for 3 people, but it turned out the bunk bed just had a larger bottom bunk. I kept expecting someone to show up, but I had just booked the entire room. It costs 2400 Rubles a night. So I can "invite" someone here? But I better don't do that, and this room is very small.

And guess what? If you are 14-22 years old, you can visit the Bolshoi Theatre for 400 Rubles - though you'd be standing in the back. But this means that after 2 years I won't be eligible for this anymore.

I bought 3 tickets for the next 3 days - РАМТ, Театр имени Станиславского и Немировича-Данченко, and Bolshoi. Then I will take the train to Vladimir or Nizhny Novgorod.

Лебединое озеро(2200 рубли)

Эсмеральда(3500 рубли)

Жар-птица(400 рубли)

I'm heading to Читай Город.

I saw a Gazprombank. I went there to exchange money, the rate is 10.7. 3000 Yuan in cash for 32100 Rubles. I couldn't use Unionpay at Gazprom. In fact, Chinese Unionpay doesn't seem to be working anywhere.

I just have 1000 RMB and 30000 Rubles now, and that would last for about 10 days. (excluding hotels, which I can pay with Mastercard) The train ticket is quite expensive here.

Читай Город is like Barnes and Nobles. I have never seen a Russian bookstore in my life physically and never seen so many Russian books.

Вот какая красота

I said that, "мой русский не идеален". And the babushka helped me find "Евгения Онегина". I already knew by heart the start of Tatyana's letter, "я у вам пишу, чего же боле, что я могу ещё сказать, теперь я знаю...

The babushka staff is so kind. She smiled at me. She led me to the poetry section.

I am crying! I could sit here all day and all night. The joy of visiting a bookstore.

The children section

Romance

Proze

There are 2 sections for novels, Russian literature and other literature translated into Russian.

Here is the series Twilight translated into Russian

Tolkien

Agatha Christie

Russian novels

I bought 3 books: 1 класс Хрестоматия, 2 класса, и Евгений Onegene. It costs 977 Rubles.

I went to the supermarket to buy dinner.

I messaged my friend Sergey on Telegram and sent him the photos. He said, "This is Pushkin's most famous fairy tales in Russia." (Ruslan and Lyudmilla) And then there's the book Живая Шляпа.

Another friend on Telegram was like, "Ты здесь один?" I said, "Да". She said, "Молодец". She is in Dagestan now, and she told me if I changed my mind and wanted to go to Dagestan, we can meet there. But I am not going to Dagestan now, it's so sad.

I like the carbonated water святои источник

I went into a store and I bought chicken and rice, some pastries, and 3 yogurts.

There are always so many global south men in the kitchen in the cheap hostel! And there is hardly anyone else there. They don't speak Russian. Even when I am in the room, I constantly hear these people and it's so annoying. So Russians are actually very quiet people.

The food is very tasty. Until now I've hardly eaten anything in restaurants. (mostly just snacks) Anyway, it's late and I am going to sleep.