Chinese people like to travel to Russia, some like exotic customs, and some are looking for old Soviet feelings, so much so that Russian-speaking grandfathers and aunts were once active in every carriage of the K3/4 international train. Yes, in that fiery age, people were learning Russian instead of English.
Statistics show that in 2019, 1.9 million Chinese tourists came to Russia. This number ranks third in terms of inbound tourists to Russia, second only to Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
There are many interesting things to travel to Russia. A long time ago, I heard people say that Russian high-speed rail attendants charge tips. At that time, I felt very strange, wondering how the aunts and grandpas who lined up to get cheap rice and eggs would give them so easily.
But when we came to Russia, we really “consciously” paid the tips. Let me talk about the process in detail:
First of all, Russia also has high-speed rail.
The name of the Russian high-speed rail is “Сапсан”, which means peregrine falcon, commonly known as duck tiger. There are currently only two routes: one is from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and the other is from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod.
We took the line from Moscow to St. Petersburg, which was put into use in December 2009. The whole journey was less than 1,000 kilometers, and it took nearly 4 hours to calculate the 250 kilometers per hour. Here, it can only be regarded as the level of high-speed trains, not high-speed rail at all.
Secondly, the train is good and the rail is poor. Objectively speaking, the high-speed rail locomotive made in Russia is still good. The tour guide said that it was imported from Siemens, Germany. Each row is composed of 10 groups, worth more than 800 million euros, and can operate at -40°C to +40° Normal driving within the temperature range of C.
The tour guide said that, not only did we think of the K3 international train that we took from Beijing to Moscow, it also seemed to be made in Germany. It has been imported from 1995 to today, and it has been running for 26 years, and the quality has nothing to say.
Why not buy China’s high-speed rail? We asked the tour guide and she said seriously: We know that China’s high-speed rail is very good, but we need to lay special tracks. We are poor and have no money.
In the subsequent itinerary, we finally learned the meaning of the tour guide’s sentence: Russia’s high-speed rail was too shaken and the noise was particularly loud. This Siemens locomotive runs at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour on a traditional ordinary line, not our dedicated ballastless track.
What’s more interesting is that Russia’s high-speed rail slows, express, and high-speed trains are mixed, and the speed can’t go up at all.
Again, “consciously” tip.
The flight attendants don’t want a lot of tips, 10 yuan, and they charge RMB. Everyone will be unhappy if you pay extra, but you can’t stand the sweetness of the pretty tour guide. The tour guide is 26 years old and his surname is Smirnov. She explained that it means “modest”. In order to facilitate memory, we later called him a modest guide.
When we were on the bus at the railway station, Mr. Qian told us about tipping, saying that it was a “local custom” and that the money was not much. It could show the generosity and wealth of Chinese tourists, and it could also make everyone Each tourist enjoys better service. I don’t know if I did my homework ahead of time, but the aunts and uncles who came with me also actively agreed.
When we got on the bus, the flight attendant was standing by the door. Although the facial features were very three-dimensional and they were pretty good-looking, we could tell from the body that we were married. Later, I saw a few more and discovered that it seems that the Russian high-speed train attendants are all married.
Soon after the train started, the tall and magnificent flight attendants came, first smiled at everyone, and then said four words in somewhat awkward Mandarin: “Hello, tip”, and then tipped them one by one.
We found that the three aunts in the same group were very happy to pay for the money, and took the flight attendant to take a group photo with the scissor hands. There are even more unexpected discoveries: There are not only Chinese tourists in the carriage, but the flight attendant sister seems to be eye-catching, even if the Chinese tourists want to tip. We were puzzled.
After paying the tip, I got better service. The train drove for about an hour, and the flight attendant sister came over and asked us through the tour guide if we need to go to the bar for a drink.
Of course we will go. A very elegant dining car with a dozen seats. You can drink or drink liquor. Of course, it costs money. You can also have a box lunch, sit by the window, and eat quietly while watching the scenery.
In other words, the Russian high-speed rail box lunch is cheaper than us, ranging from 250 rubles to 500 rubles, which is about 20 to 50 yuan. Staple foods include rice, noodles, bread, etc. Green vegetables include cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, etc. The most affordable meats are grilled chicken, sausages and other meats.
Finally, we want to add that at the station in St. Petersburg, according to the previous process, we usually go to the toilet. It is not convenient to add an attraction. However, at the door of the toilet, there was a big sign with 30 rubles per person written in English. Seeing that it was English, not Chinese characters, we felt a little more balanced, but we didn’t go in and turned away.
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