Cold cold cold
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2008
1
3
6
Trip End
Dec 31, 2008
Kyiv,
Ukraine
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
My Baghdad friend Jason, who is now headed to Chengdu if you want to look him up, has a good friend Sean who is working in Ukraine. Sean is one of those few high quality determined people that go one to be great leaders and innovators. If you ever meet him you will understand what I mean. Anyway Sean was nice enough to take me out and show me the bar/club scene in Kyiv. I haven't been out that late or had that much fun sine I was in Mongolia with Justin last year. Wow, time goes by fast!
I only spent a few days in Ukraine because I felt like I had seen most of the city and it was freezing cold. I can't even count how many times I almost fell down on the ice. The cold is only part of the issue; all of the buildings are just tall enough to block out the sun. Some are parisian style while others are soviet pieces of shit that you hope will fall down soon. One lovable thing about the city is the slight lack of planning. Most major cities have very strict building and safety codes that take away from the charm of having tree roots mangling a sidewalk on a steep street. Kyiv really is quite charming in that manner. The other great thing is that there is a kiosk on just about every corner selling nescafe, pastries, and alcohol. You really can't beat a country where it is not only legal to drink in public, but also socially acceptable to have one in hand in the mornings.
From a distance
Ok ok there are few Ukrainians that I saw who were drinking in the morning. If my stomach was a little stronger this trip I would have done it too. A few things surprised me about Ukraine, one of them being the level of negative sentiment towards the Russians. Read some recent political articles and it isn't that hard to figure out why. The other is the level of corruption. If I weren't so lazy I would look up their world corruption ranking but my internet is very slow. Anyway, I'm going to borrow a story from Sean to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
Sean's company has an entire fleet of broken-down aging 1950's trucks that they would like to replace with something newer. In most countries you would just buy new trucks and that is exactly what his company did. Now they can't use those new trucks because some ministry won't approve their use. I can't remember what excuse they were using but it basically boils down to his company not buying local products. The problem is that all the local trucks are based on those 50's Soviet style trucks that are basically the same as the ones they already have. Now because they didn't play the game and pay some people off their new trucks are illegal. I ask you, in what other country could this type of debauchery occur? I don't even think China could get away with that for very long...um China was a bad example but you know what I mean.
I will definitely go back to Ukraine but next time it will be during the summer and somewhere like Odessa in the south. Thanks to Jason and Sean for all the fun and I will definitely return the favor someday.
