.... This is Nomadic Mom's TRAVEL GUIDE to Moscow.
Malaysians definitely need a Russian VISA and it costs USD 100/- for a single entry visa. If you intend to visit on your own (i.e. not with a tour group), I highly recommend buying a RUSSIAN Phrasebook and do some homework on the Cyrillic characters before you depart for this city as almost ALL Muscovites do NOT speak English. Trust me. It will save you lots of headache and legwork!
Most airlines from Asia arrive at the Domodedovo Airport, and there is an Airport Express train that takes you from the airport to the city's Paveletsky Railway Station. It cost 350 Rubles per pax one way. Please note that if you come in Summer, be prepared for the heat as there is NO air-conditioning in the trains. Trains are pretty clean though. Snacks/water are sold via trolley-vendors (Expensive though - a bottle of water is at 100 Rubles). BTW, todays rate is USD 1 = 30.4 Rubles.
Malaysians definitely need a Russian VISA and it costs USD 100/- for a single entry visa. If you intend to visit on your own (i.e. not with a tour group), I highly recommend buying a RUSSIAN Phrasebook and do some homework on the Cyrillic characters before you depart for this city as almost ALL Muscovites do NOT speak English. Trust me. It will save you lots of headache and legwork!
Most airlines from Asia arrive at the Domodedovo Airport, and there is an Airport Express train that takes you from the airport to the city's Paveletsky Railway Station. It cost 350 Rubles per pax one way. Please note that if you come in Summer, be prepared for the heat as there is NO air-conditioning in the trains. Trains are pretty clean though. Snacks/water are sold via trolley-vendors (Expensive though - a bottle of water is at 100 Rubles). BTW, todays rate is USD 1 = 30.4 Rubles.
On arrival at Paveletsky Railway Station 
From Paveletsky Railway Station, you can connect to the rest of Moscow via the extensive Metro Network. The Metro Station here is Paveletskaya. Metro tickets are cheap. If I am not
mistaken, it is 26 Rubles per single trip, and you can buy multiple trips which will be slighly cheaper and can be used over a couple of days.
Check out the beautiful ornaments, mosaics etc of the Moscow Metro in the next post.
I will blog the names of landmarks and places in the usual alphabet. However, most signs (Yes. Even those in the Metro) uses Cyrillic. So be sure to remember the different characters/symbols. The first few days, I was matching symbols. Only on the day before our departure, I could sorta read Cyrillic. It's quite fun in a way. The symbol Phi is actually a F. H is actually an N. Flip side N is actually an I. Flip side R is YA. C is actually S, K is C and etc etc.
I can't emphasize more the importance of knowing SOME Russian. Because when we arrived at our Metro stop, I didn't know the word for EXIT nor could read it. And we were practically going round-and-round the station!! So you can imagine grumpy old H!!! Btw, the word is выход and is pronounced as vihod.
And when we were walking miles-n-miles (okay. A bit of exaggeration here) to look for our hotel, I had to use my half-past-six sign language to ask where the hotel was. As in emulate SLEEPING! We did find our hotel. :-D
Another thing. Always look at the scale of the map when booking your hotel. When I booked our hotel, it looked pretty close to the Metro Stations and online reviews indicated that it was close. But I tell you, it was further than I anticipated. I supposed it would be OKAY if it was NOT Summer. If the weather was cooler, the walks would be pretty pleasant and probably romantic (as you would have to walk along the embankment). The hotel we stayed in - The Aquamarine was a new 4* hotel in a new building so it was spick-n-span. Modern with LCD TV, power shower etc etc and staff spoke English. We paid 5000 Rubles per night (no breakfast) through Booking.com which is quite a good deal... considering the exorbitant rates of other hotels. I was gonna complain about the internet charges (USD 5 for 30 minutes) but after looking at what InterContinental New Orleans charges (USD 5.95 + tax for 15 minutes!!!), this rate seems reasonable!
mistaken, it is 26 Rubles per single trip, and you can buy multiple trips which will be slighly cheaper and can be used over a couple of days.
Check out the beautiful ornaments, mosaics etc of the Moscow Metro in the next post.
I will blog the names of landmarks and places in the usual alphabet. However, most signs (Yes. Even those in the Metro) uses Cyrillic. So be sure to remember the different characters/symbols. The first few days, I was matching symbols. Only on the day before our departure, I could sorta read Cyrillic. It's quite fun in a way. The symbol Phi is actually a F. H is actually an N. Flip side N is actually an I. Flip side R is YA. C is actually S, K is C and etc etc.
I can't emphasize more the importance of knowing SOME Russian. Because when we arrived at our Metro stop, I didn't know the word for EXIT nor could read it. And we were practically going round-and-round the station!! So you can imagine grumpy old H!!! Btw, the word is выход and is pronounced as vihod.
And when we were walking miles-n-miles (okay. A bit of exaggeration here) to look for our hotel, I had to use my half-past-six sign language to ask where the hotel was. As in emulate SLEEPING! We did find our hotel. :-D
Another thing. Always look at the scale of the map when booking your hotel. When I booked our hotel, it looked pretty close to the Metro Stations and online reviews indicated that it was close. But I tell you, it was further than I anticipated. I supposed it would be OKAY if it was NOT Summer. If the weather was cooler, the walks would be pretty pleasant and probably romantic (as you would have to walk along the embankment). The hotel we stayed in - The Aquamarine was a new 4* hotel in a new building so it was spick-n-span. Modern with LCD TV, power shower etc etc and staff spoke English. We paid 5000 Rubles per night (no breakfast) through Booking.com which is quite a good deal... considering the exorbitant rates of other hotels. I was gonna complain about the internet charges (USD 5 for 30 minutes) but after looking at what InterContinental New Orleans charges (USD 5.95 + tax for 15 minutes!!!), this rate seems reasonable!
Got these two photos from Google Images. But they do depict the lobby and room pretty accurately. Actually, our room was bigger than this as it had a little bay window and a work desk.
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