Bruce, first of all - welcome to Moscow! :)
Here is my brief comment to your questions: - you can buy practically anything in Moscow, yet it might be quite overpriced :'( Also, it depends how special is your wok and heavy cast iron skillets :) i.e is that something that you may find in IKEA? (then you'll find it in IKEA Moscow) or they are really special? In any case I do not think there is a need to send them by DHL - you may take them with you as transatlantic airfare usually has higher weight limits - Banks. Oh... be prepared. First of all, there is no "foreign banks" as such in Russia. ZAO Citibank is quite different from Citibank New York or any other Citibank. My expirience so far is that there is no good banks, you are trying to find less bad. It used to be a good one - HSBC, but it vanished quickly from Russia. You may check some rankings at http://www.banki.ru/services/responses/ Also, most likely your employer has his preffered bank anyway. At the moment I am using Alfa-bank, and it is OK in general, BUT, the most of their fuckups that I expirienced where related to international bank transfers :( - Restaurants: sorry, I am not familiar with this particular area. There is a nice place not too far, it is called Madam Galife cafe at m. Prospect Mira, near Aptekarsky Ogorod. Also, speaking generally, I like Prostye Veshi and Khachapuri cafes :) Good luck, Boris On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 11:00 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Send Expat mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Expat digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. New arrival, intro, questions... (Bruce Hoult) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2015 01:17:31 +1200 > From: Bruce Hoult <[email protected]> > Subject: Expat List New arrival, intro, questions... > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: > <camu+ekz3gla+dzock8dvvwe9svrnhdtjkyoz_ok8+ma2z4r...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Hi all, > > Today I picked up my 3 year work visa and booked flights from New Zealand > to Moscow, arriving next Monday. > > I was there for two weeks in December, working in the same office I'll be > in (I've been working remotely since July), so I've had a little bit of a > chance to look around, though not very thorough. > > I'm planning to live in the area between Savelovskaya and Mar'ina Roshcha > metro stations. > > - the most urgent question, which I need to decide in the next three days: > should I take kitchen things or buy them there? Saucepan set, crockery, > cutlery, cups and glasses etc will be easy and not worth taking I expect. > But I do a pretty large proportion of my cooking in a large wok and heavy > cast iron skillets. The few native Russian contacts I have are baffled by > the question of whether such a thing can be purchased in Moscow -- they > don't have one, their friends don't have one. > > Of course it is a very large city, and asian people do live there. > Everything must be available somewhere! > > I'm not planning to take very much with me from NZ. I'll need things like > this more or less immediately, and shipping with DHL will cost about > US$10/kg. At 1.4 kg for my small cast iron skillet, and 6.9 kg for my wok > that's going to cost basically the same as I paid for them! But if it's > going to be hard or impossible to find them in Moscow then it's maybe worth > it, > > > - Banks. Where should I open an account? Aside from the obvious things such > as cards and ATMs, which banks (or other companies) are the best for doing > currency exchange and sending, say, $5k - $10k at a time home from Russia? > I'd prefer something with, say, a fixed $15 or $20 fee than someone who > takes a percent or more out of the amount transferred. Is there a reason to > use foreign banks such as Citi or Rabo, or are local ones as good/better?n > > > - Restaurants. I've looked around in Raikin Plaza and the Ashan Siti just > over the railway lines on Sheremetyevskaya, but there seems to be a > shortage of restaurants in the area, unless you go in to the garden ring, > at least according to Google Maps. Is there anything suitable for regular > use? i.e. cheap prices (def under 1000 RUB) but good (not fancy) food; > healthy selection with salads, veg etc; ability to be in and out in 30 or > 40 minutes rather than a drawn out dining "experience". > > Is there anything like that anywhere in Moscow, for that matter? > > > - recommendation for rental car companies. I'd like to grab a car for a > weekend sometime soon after I arrive, while I can still drive on my NZ > license/International Permit, see what it's really like to drive in Moscow, > maybe head out of town e.g. maybe up towards Yaroslavl and look at the > Volga and churches. Cheap and reliable is important. I don't care if it's > 5+ years old with a few dings and 100,000 miles on the clock. I've driven > in LA, SF, Seattle, Chicago, New York, DC. It can't be worse, right? When I > was there in December I was struck by the fact that although the traffic > was very heavy, and people were pretty assertive about changing lanes, no > one seemed to get upset about it and I didn't spot any collision damaged > cars. > > I think that's all for now :) > > Thanks for any advice. > > Bruce > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > http://www.lists.ru/pipermail/expat/attachments/20150415/00a5d677/attachment-0001.html > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Expat mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat > > > End of Expat Digest, Vol 126, Issue 6 > ************************************* _______________________________________________ Expat mailing list [email protected] http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat http://www.expat.ru/forum/
