Web surfing takes me places…

Yesterday I found out there’s a computer virus Virus.DOS.Sochi.703, which apparently was dedicated to Sochi’s 2002 Olympics bid — the virus contains the text *Ks&I* Sochi Olympic Games 2002.

While trying to get more information on this I stumpled on a real biologic virus called Dobrava-Sochi virus (DOBV-Ap) – separate lineage of Dobrava virus found in and around Sochi.

And then on the same search I stumbled on a fun club mix by DJ Virus — Sochi 2014. I liked it, so I’m embedding it here :)

“Laura” (Gazprom) ski resort

Горно-туристический комплекс “Лаура” (Газпром)

About:

“Laura” (name came from the name of the local river) ski resort was built by Gazprom company, and is second most popular ski park in Krasnaya Polyana. Today they have 16 trails, and more (higher up the mountain) are under construction.

Pros: new resort – modern lifts and infrastructure.
Cons: during warmer days there is no snow, while on «Alpika» there could be snow on the highest trails. It’s also popular among VIP persons, so parts of the resort can be closed during their visits.

How to get there:

Public transport doesn’t go directly to «Laura» resort, as far as I know. But it is located very close to the “Alpika Service” resort, which is is final stop for all public transportation going to Krasnaya Polyana. So, there could be some shuttles going to the Laura.

When driving, make left turn 400m before Alpika, Laura only 500 meters down the road.

Public transportation to Alpika

From Adler’s Center:

• Bus № 135 — 50 rubles ($1.7)
• Minibus № 135 — 60 rubles ($2)

From Sochi (Central district) and from Airport:
Bus № 105 goes from central district’s bus terminal every hour, and makes a stop in the airport in Adler.

• from Sochi bus terminal – 64 rubles ($2.2)
• from airport – 50 rubles ($1.7)

There’s also minibus from from central district’s bus terminal – 65 rubles ($2.2)

Taxi prices:

• from Sochi: taxi firms – 1300-1400 rubles (~$45), private – 2000 rubles ($68)
• from Adler: taxi firms – 1200 rubles ($40), private – 1000-1200 rubles ($35-$40)

Taxi rides to get around Krasnaya Polyana are 200-350 rubles ($8-$12). There are no taxi service firms in Krasnaya Polyana, you’ll have to catch a ride with private taxi cab.

Prices (2009-2010):

Ski lifts/passes (weekdays/weekends/holidays, 9:00 – 17:00):

• adults: 1000 / 1200 / 1500 rubles ($34/$41/$51)
• children: under 7 yo — free; 7-12 yo — 50% off

There’s also Evening rates (17:00 — 23:00 : ~ -$10) and Day + Evening (~ + $10).

Read on to see trail map and photos Read the rest of this entry »

“Alpika Service” ski resort

ККД «Альпика-Сервис»

About:

“Alpika” ski lifts were first in Krasnaya Polyana. Today they have four queues of ski lifts servicing 1698 meters drop (from 540  до 2238 meters above sea level). First lift queue was built in 1992, and fourth in 2004.

Pros: great slopes, an location for skiing.
Cons: old and slow lifts. Also, many people complain about service and food.

How to get there:

From Adler’s Center:

• Bus № 135 — 50 rubles ($1.7)
• Minibus № 135 — 60 rubles ($2)

From Sochi (Central district) and from Airport:
Bus № 105 goes from central district’s bus terminal every hour, and makes a stop in the airport in Adler.

• from Sochi bus terminal – 64 rubles ($2.2)
• from airport – 50 rubles ($1.7)

There’s also minibus from from central district’s bus terminal – 65 rubles ($2.2)

“Alpika Service” is final stop for all buses and mini buses going to Krasnaya Polyana.

Taxi prices:

• from Sochi: taxi firms – 1300-1400 rubles (~$45), private – 2000 rubles ($68)
• from Adler: taxi firms – 1200 rubles ($40), private – 1000-1200 rubles ($35-$40)

Taxi rides to get around Krasnaya Polyana are 200-350 rubles ($8-$12). There are no taxi service firms in Krasnaya Polyana, you’ll have to catch a ride with private taxi cab.

Prices (2009-2010):

Ski lifts/passes (weekdays/weekends/holidays):

• adults: 1000 / 1200 / 1500 rubles ($34/$41/$51)
• children: 500 / 600 / 750 rubles ($17/$20/$25)

Rentals: 300 – 1500 rubles; open 8am – 5pm.

Read on to see trail map and photos Read the rest of this entry »

Since there’s still some time left in current skiing this season, I’ll post details on all ski resorts of Krasnaya Polyana the next few articles.

I recently stumbled on a Whitelines Snowboarding Magazine article about a snowboarding trip to Sochi’s Krasnaya Polyana published back in 2006. The authors’ feedback in this article about Russia, Russians, and Sochi is very negative. Nonetheless, it’s a view of a person who actually went to Sochi, and it has a right to exist. So, I’d recommend reading it to anyone thinking about going to Sochi, especially for a winter trip.

In spite of author’s disappointment with Russia, he does recognize and praise unique nature’s gift of Krasnaya Polyana. The article is rather long, so I’ll quote only some paragraphs about KP here.

on Krasnaya Polyana
…we hiked and rode all day. For large parts of it, I was out of my comfort zone – particularly as it was only my second day riding of the season. But it turned into one of the most memorable days riding I’ve ever had. Krasnaya’s incredible terrain helps to explain why so many people make the trip to this tiny, out of the way Russian resort. It is a serious mountain with serious dangers, but the rewards and scope for exploration for those with enough experience to handle it are limitless.

on living in Sochi (from Englishman living there)
How is it living here?
It’s great. In the winter I ski and ski, and in the summer it’s walking and mountain biking. It’s great here. There are actually more people here in the summer than in the winter. And there’s a yacht club 40 minutes away. So in the summer it’s fantastic, sometimes you can ski in the spring, and then in the afternoon you can take a yacht. It’s a great time.

on doing business (from the same Englishman)
So difficult is that to get off the ground? Is there a lot of red tape?
As soon as you speak the language, everything here becomes very transparent and open. You understand what’s going on. Without the language it’s pretty difficult. But I think our pub will be ready by the end of 2007.

… and conclusion
One thing is for sure: the secret is out about Krasnaya. How it develops from here is impossible to say, but it’s going to be interesting.

You can read the complete article here: From Russia with Love

This is a guest post about a trip to Khosta – district in Sochi and my home town – from Robert MacDonald, an American living in Russia since 2000. You can read another article about this trip on his blog: An October Summer in Sochi… 10 days away from St Petersburg rain and snow!

The other day I put on my many zippered vest as I was going on errands for my wife and needed many pockets for instructions, cell phone, roubles and kopeks change, and well as paper money and metro tokens!  It was then I found my lucky stone from the beaches of Khosta…around 5 cm across, black with green highlights, with white algae and cracks.  It is an ideal worry stone, that you can massage with your thumb when thinking.

Well, since then I have carried it with me, as I love collecting, cleaning, and examining stones, pebbles, and rocks.  Also, having a momento in my pocket takes me back to one of the very special trips of my life.  I’ve seen the New Jersey shore,Florida palms, the ideal climate of southern California, Mexico’s Acapulco, the Riviera, and Italy’s Amalfi Coast… but in my mind nothing can compare with Sochi!

So, what is so special about Sochi?  Read the rest of this entry »

Landline telephone code of Sochi is 8622, and all numbers are six digits. Telephone code of Russia is 7, so to call a number in Sochi you dial +7-8622-##-##-##.

Mobile operator’s codes are all different, and the numbers consist of three digit code and seven digits number. Here are telephone codes of major mobile operators in Sochi:

MTS (МТС): 918, 988
Megafon (Мегафон): 920, 930, 928, 938
Beeline (Билайн): 903, 905, 906, 909, 960, 961, 962, 963, 964.
TELE2: 902, 908, 952

Calls between operators in Russia are always more expensive than inside operator’s network, and there are no such thing as free long distance calls. So, if you’re planning to get local number, consider this: absolute majority of people living in Sochi have MTS numbers. This is due to the fact that several years ago MTS acquired major local operator «Kuban GSM».

Other Sochi quick facts »

After a recent comment to a year old post about plans of a high-speed train from Moscow to Sochi, I decided to collect bits and pieces of what I know on a subject into a post.

“Sapsan”

• Russian Railways already sign a contract to buy 8 highspeed trains (“Sapsan” / Velaro RUS platform) from Siemens. They are to be used to connect Moscow with Sant-Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, and possibly Sochi.
• First commercial use of this train is schedilered for December 18th this year, between St.-Pete and Moscow.
• The trains will use existing tracks, but the infrastructure will have to be modernized, and schedulers re-worked. This work for Msk-SPb trains is completed.
• 10 carts, carrying around 600 passengers
• Technical possibility of 250-330 km/hr, but for now will operate ~200 km/h, and even slower close to the cities.
• Planned 3 hrs 30 min – 3 hrs 45 min one way ride to SPb, 4 hrs to N. Novgorod, 17 hrs to Sochi
• Ticket price is still unknown at this point, even for Msk-SPb rides. But they’ll have to compete with 1500-2000 rub regular train tickets, and ~2000+ rub airplane tickets.

What are Sochi’s chances

According to an article on rbc.ru, it sound like a solid plans.

• September 22, 2009 – just yesterday – Russian Railways presented “Sapsan” in Rostov. Why in Rostov? Probably because it’s largest city on Russia’s south, and maybe train will make a stop there(?)
• The test rides in Russia’s south will begin on September 24 – thats tomorrow – on RZDs’ testing track Belorechenskaya – Maykop. And Moscow – Sochi high speed train should start running after the tests are completed.

“Sapsan” train. Photo source ru_railway

You can find more photos of this train, exterior and interior, here: community.livejournal.com/ru_railway/

Russia’s Sberbank, which was earlier selected as an official partner of Olympics in Sochi, is holding public competition for the best Sochi 2014 credit card design. The main prize: a trip to Vancouver in February 2010

The official website for the competition is sochi-card.ru

Unfortunately for most of the visitors of this blog the competition is open to Russian citizens only. If you are eligible you can read rules of participation (in Russian) here. But, luckily for those who have any skills, you’ve got a pretty good chance, ’cause most of the designs submeted by now look more like kindergarten drawings.

Here are a few of the ones I personally liked. You can see them all in the official gallery.

Do you like any of those designs?

Over 4,000 exotic tropical fish died at an airport in Sochi after being kept in customs for hours in the summer heat. “The 18-ton cargo, containing over 4,000 exotic fish from China, was standing at customs at Sochi Airport for more than 14 hours in quite hot weather”… customs deny it was their fault, and claim owners did not submit proper paperwork.

The fish was intended for the brand new Sоchi Discovery World – world class, 6 700 sq. meters, $25 mln oceanarium which was scheduled to open during the 8th International Investment Forum Sochi-2009 (starts on September 17). Hm, around $480,000 in investments into Sochi lost while trying to “decorate” investment forum in Sochi… quite symbolic, I think.

Well, according to the head of the oceanarium they are going to try to open as scheduled…

You can read the full story at Russia Today: Thousands of exotic fish boiled alive in Sochi airport

About a week ago domain name Sochi.ru – which hosted popular city portal with forums, classifieds, events calendar, news, etc. – was transferred to Organizing Committee “Sochi 2014″.

Why and how this happened is a bit of a mystery. Originally, on August 19, an announcement was posted on the website that the popular portal will move to a new domain – Sochi.com, and included statement that “by the order of the Government of the Russian Federation administration of domain name Sochi.ru goes over to the Organizing Committee “Sochi 2014″”… but later that sentence was removed from the announcement.

Neither Organizing Committee nor previous owner commented this to the media. Most news agencies quoted head of PR of the Ru-Center, .RU’s official domain names registration center, mentioning the “Olympic Law”, which basically makes anything with Sochi Olympics logo and other Olympics-related symbols (and that includes domain names) property of the Organizing Committee. However, not only that makes no sense, since Sochi.com is not much different from Sochi.ru in this respect, but also only combinations of “Sochi” and “2014″ fall under that law — this was discussed and explained at the time when this law came into effect.

But this is a done deal – WHOIS info already shows “Organizing Committee “Sochi 2014″” as Sochi.ru’s registrant, and the copy of the original portal already spinning at the Sochi.com. According to the original announcement, anyone who has @sochi.ru email address and all third level domains will exist until the end of this year.

I wonder what project will spin at this address next.

Hello there! My name is Vlad Feoktistov. I am new to this site but feel free to comment.

Many foreigns sure that palm trees can’t survive in Russia’s scary climate . Many of them don’t know about the City of Sochi. Sochi is the #1 destination as summer and winter resort and SPA in Russia. As we know, Sochi enjoys humid subtropical climate. Average January temperature of 6 °C (42.8 °F). The average summer high temperature ranges between 25 °C (77 °F) and 28 °C (82.4 °F) with occasional extreme heat in some interior locations exceeding 40 °C (104 °F). Average annual precipitation is about 1,500 mm.

Is it OK for palm trees? YES! Lots of species can grow in Sochi. So I want you to know about most popular palm tree species that can be found all around the Sochi.

Trachycarpus Fortunei – the most hardy palm tree

You can see it everywhere! It loves Sochi’s climate so much that it germinates everywhere. It is the most popular souvenir that tourists bring from Sochi. Not Matryoshka but palm tree!

Washingtonia genus – the most tall

Very popular palm tree now days. Native range – California. They need some protection at winter when young. We use to buy them from Italian nurseries but we shall organize some local ones soon. Very tall. You can see most mature specimens on the street Navaginskaya, some old ones near Sochi Museum and Dendrarium arboretum.

Phoenix Canariensis – the most beautiful and spectacular

Very popular palm tree. Native range – Canary Islands. City services protects youngest trees because of frost (very rare in Sochi but can occur here). You can see most spectacular specimen near Central Railway Station, some very old ones on Sochi Theater Plaza and Dendrarium arboretum.

Blizzards are rare in Sochi. But palm trees should be ready for surprise. That is why Zelenstroy company make protection ‘wear’ for young trees. Global Warming is our hope :] At the beginning of XX century Sochi was 8a Hardiness Zone. Now it is 8b/9a.

That is all for today. Next time i will tel you about another exotic plants that can be found in Sochi.

A couple of photos I found on Flickr today…

Sochi – Cheltenham’s sister city

“Cheltenham’s sister cities.” (c) Dave Hanmer

Sochi’s sister cities, or twin cities…

Luring you in…

(c) Masha Kuvshinova

Sign reads: “Holiday romance is your dream! It will realize in Sochi! Come…” :-)

“Mercer publishes rankings for 240 cities, and … is expanding the list to include two unlikely places due to high demand: Sochi, Russia – site of the 2014 Winter Olympics – and the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.” This is a quote from the swissinfo.ch article on importance of the city ranks and surveys for global companies.

Mercer is the highly regarded consulting company, which, among other things, surveys cities and ranks them on various topics. The two popular surveys you most often see the media discuss are Quality of Living and Cost of Living surveys. The latter one is popular in Russia to discuss, as Moscow tops it year after year for god knows how long now.

Such surveys are often used by global companies when making decisions on opening new offices abroad. The same article cites Mercer’s Geneva office say “1,600 companies pay membership fees to have access to all of the consultancy’s data, and another 18,000 place orders for various surveys.”

Does anyone reading have access to the complete Quality of Living published in April ‘09? I wonder if Sochi was already included, and I wonder how it did :)

I’m going to Sochi for the New Year, yay! I just hope the flight won’t be delayed, as my flight is at 7pm :) The only comforting thought is that it’s Aeroflot flight, and in my experience they’ve been very reliable in being on-time. Unlike SkyExpress. Since I moved to St. Petersburg two month ago, I’ve spent most weekends in Moscow, thanks to the reasonable rates at SkyExpress . However every flight back to SPb was delayed! On the last trip the flight to Moscow was combined with another SE flight that they delayed for several hours, and on the way back my flight was delayed 6 hrs. The good think they did sent me text message about the delay, and I ended up meeting my friends from Sochi Music College (now called Sochi College of Arts, or something like that), who now live in Moscow. So, this time it worked out Ok.

All cheap tickets to Sochi for Dec 30-31^st on all airlines were sold out about a month in advance. My Moscow-Sochi-Moscow tickets ended up being 515€. If you’re looking for tickets now, check out Aeroflot first, they have many flights there on 31st, and probably will still have tickets.

I’ll be in Sochi from 31st to 8th. No particular plans yet, we’ll probably go out clubbing with friends, or get together at someone’s place. What are your New Year plans?