Minsk (MSQ) - 9 & 10 April 2009 - Part 1

This is one of the trips which I look forward to this month because :-
1) I've requested this flight with Pony & Juliet ( but Juliet didn't get the flight though)
2) it's a country which I haven't been
3) the rest of my roster sucks!!

Minsk -
Where is that??

It's the capital of Belarus - and WHERE IS BELARUS ? :) It has borders with Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Poland. It got its independence in 1991. The city was 80% destroyed during WWar 2. The city was rebuilt in 1950's. That would explain a couple of pictures later and some BIAS opinions of mine :P

The flying time from AUH to MSQ is 5 hrs 40 mins. The currency which they use is Rubels. RM1 = RB800. The notes amount is HUGE - just like Indonesian rupiah.

View of the airport.....

From the airport to the city centre....

Pyramid with a spaceship which is about to launch??



In Belarus, if you don't have time to go for tour, it's ok cos 90% of the sightseeings are by the main road from the airport to the city centre..... :P


The National Library

Victory Square.....

Circus.... (When it finished construction in 1959, for that moment it was the biggest and most beautiful circus in the USSR. The circus seats 1668 people)

Palace of the Republic....( a multipurpose building with a total of 3500 seats. This palace is situated on the axis of October square. It is the last monument of the former Soviet architecture. The main official holidays of the country are celebrated here. In winter, the square in the front of the Palace turns to a city skating rink)

As we weren't tired, we excitedly headed out straight to the streets. The city area was within walking range, so as we walked, we saw quite a lot of people walking in and out from a 19th century building - with grand staircase - if you've got the imagination right, it looks like those old parliament with some arts hanging on the wall..... we were still standing at the entrance of the building-still wondering if it's a "Supermarket". The reason why my friends and I are wondering still...because :-

1) things are sold "over the counter" - even to the cheapest ie toiletries & stationery etc....

2) there's no segregation of goods, like back home, 1st floor - men's/women's, 2nd floor - children etc.....this supermarket has like 3 "stalls" or more selling stockings in different floors, and yes stockings here should have very high sales turnover because every single "mall" you enter the first thing which they sell is stockings ( the women's range. The design looks pretty interesting with lots of designs and colours, but we were jokingly telling each other that if we Asians wear it back home, we'll be labelled as the "La-la mui"...hahahha...or if worse still, the ....ahem... ) Well, as you could see in the context above, I've used lots of " " , as I find it hard to find a real definition for things/situations.
Yes....we are inside the supermarket now......not museum/art exhibtion....

As this was the 1st supermarket we went, we had a thought that maybe this is going to close down soon that's why these things are in this manner. Hahah...but guess what, it's the same througout all the malls where :-

1) there's no fixed department on each floor

2) and stockings are always the first stalls!!!! ahhahaah....

Random pictures......

One of the sweet shops which we passed by.....look so yummy...but we don't know what are those as it's in Russian...

I love their hats......so UNIQUE!!!Very Russian!!!My Thai friend - Rose

Pony modelling one of the Russian hats!!!!

Guess what's written?? :P

On the main street - Main Avenue.....

The Holy Spirit Cathedral.....
Church of St Mary the Virgin.....

Minsk City Hall...

Pony and I - photo overlooking the city....(lake at the background)

One of the murals at a building of a mall...

I wonder if he'll scare people away.....though his job was to give out pamphlets...... I honestly think that IT IS NOT CREATIVE AT ALL lohhhh......

What size do you want for Carlsberg??? M or L ??? Haahhaa....well....I saw this one XL... it's ONE litre....interesting....

Dinner time.....with a glass of Belarussian beer (the non-clear one) and the Russian beer ( clear )

Sorry, i think I pressed the wrong function on the camera - which makes it a bit unclear. Below is Borsch soup - a vegetable soup in Eastern Europe made from beetroot base. White colour thingy is cheese(8000 RB = RM10)

This is Pork Shish Kebab....hhahaha...

Pork Ragout (RB22890 ) - We tried to ask the waiter what was Ragout - Well, after his explaination, we were still pondering. After eating, I figured it's Pork Stew served inside the bread....
Before.....

Ta - dah.....after opening the cover of the bread....

Potato Pancake -Overall, the food wasn't FANTASTIC....but at least we tried POTATO - something they are famous for, but I've to admit the Belarussian bear was GOOD stuff!!! It's so smooth....one of the best I've drank.....