Yes indeed, that sounds as a weird touristic destination… for the first time for 7 years, I have taken the plane for the UNIQUE purpose to just visit a country (even to enjoy it), as an “average” backpacker.
Of course, it was out of question to pick up a dummy touristic blockbuster destination like “Spain”, “Egypt”, “France”, “Croatia” or worst of all “Tunisia (& its all-inclusive)”… ; no, I am TANGUY, and I am going to places that mid-range brainwashed people usually despise, because I am just more experienced and clever (if this is not about provocation…), and because it is my source of inspiration.
Which “exotic” destination at a 3 hours flying range from Brussels I haven’t been yet to ? Which destination would make me look like as a “weirdo” to my fellows, developing the wildest fantasies, when mentioning about it ?
UKRAINE, of course !
Ok, frankly speaking, my dreams of an unfriendly-unsafe-soviet-maffia-shithole got quickly disappointed…
- no “2-months-in-advance” visa (for EU citizens at least, upon arrival) were requested to enter the country (yep, Ukraine is not “Russia”)
- “rightly” considered as a safe country (level 1 ; the maximum) by the Belgian Foreign Affairs Ministry (WHAT???)
But (fortunately),
- the latest (very thin) edition of the Lonely Planet guide was from 2006 (good feeling, they don’t make any yearly issue, the demand must be very low, just the necessary information should be covered then), c’mon trucker/secretary backpackers, go to Croatia
- no-one overthere really speaks English (speak Russian, Ukrainian, or have fun with your hands),
- everything is in Cyrillic (good luck in restaurants) - again, having a pretty ok level in Russian definitely helps… a lot.
- alcohol is pretty expensive (Western Europe level), including clubs and everything linked to nightlife (your budget * 2)
- western tourism is not that much developed (usually all tourists come from Russia and Belarus), so if you are in troubles, have fun with… (if you have any left one :)… !
- …
I lOVE UKRAINE. I LOVE KIEV.
Gentle and curious people, lovely food (really), splendid architecture, amazing countrysides (Crimea is just surreal), Orthodox churches there are just about spirituality - a dimension I believe my Belgian catholic churches is currently missing. Kiev is actually considered as a holy place in the orthodox world, it is as well the historical origin of the Russian empire. A bit like Philadelphia/ Boston for the US… except those cities are still part of the US.
I felt like being home in Kiev, and I hope I’ll be able to go back there with a better level of Russian (probably when I’ll be able to sing these songs by heart ; Kalinka and Katyusha). I got my stereotypes completely broken ; “no-one” there smoke (no young people at least) - which is a premiere in developing countries (usually this is completely the opposite), and the lesser you drink, the better you are considered (even if you could notice “everyone” is carrying/drinking bottles of beer on the streets). After this trip experience, I got convinced that smoking was just so stupid (even when drunk, I just don’t want to scap a fag anymore - smoke in my lungs, not anymore).
But well, this paradise might again anytime soon to the westerners close its doors (maybe for a better) - politically, as you might have read on the news, it is indeed not going that well. I can see critical community and identity problems appearing (Russian speakers vs Ukraine ones), fostered by the 2 totally different neighboring worlds (European Union VS Russia). Torn apart, that might be a probable ending for this country that has already suffered so much (”special treatments” from Nazis and Soviets)… The world has indeed evolved since Yalta, when Roosevelt, Churchill and Staline split the world ; where will this city stand in 10 years time ?
