Russia

Etiquette & respect

On arriving in Russia, you will be provided with an immigration paper. As in most places, one half is surrendered on entry and the other portion should remain with your passport until you leave Russia. It is usually printed in both Russian and English though other languages may be available. If you lose it, then upon leaving Russia, you will be charged a nominal fine, and your departure may be delayed by an hour or two for the formalities. Usually, you will be permitted to enter and remain in Russia for the term of your visa but it's up to the immigration officer to decide and they may decide otherwise, though this is unlikely. Thos…

Tipping guidance

While tipping was traditionally frowned upon in Russia it has been emerging after the fall of socialism. Tipping is not necessary, but expected. A tip exceeding 10% would be unusual. Some restaurants may include service into the amount, but that is very rare; if a service charge is included then a tip is not expected. Round up when paying your bill at a restaurant, particularly if it happens to be more or less like 10% above the total, and it may be interpreted as a tip. If the service was particularly bad and you don't want to leave a tip, ask for your change. It is impossible to write-in a tip into restaurant credit-card payment. Tipping is not considered customary for taxis, in fact, you should negotiate and settle upon your fare before you get in the taxi.

Health & wellness

Medical facilities in general vary. A majority of hospitals are extremely well equipped, clean, and possess all of the latest technologies, while there are some that are well below western standards, with shortages in medication and neglected equipment. Ensure that all of your vaccinations are up to date, and you have sufficient amounts of any prescription medicine you may be taking. Pharmacies are common in major cities and carry quality western medications. Quality of tap water varies around the country, and may even be variable within cities. In old buildings tap water can be non-potable. In the big cities of European Russia, the water is clean of biological contaminants, but often suffers from the presence of heavy metals, due to outdated city plumbing. If you can't buy bottled water, boil water before drinking, or better yet use a special filter for tap water, which you could buy in any supermarket. Bottled water costs only about 40-80 for 2 liter. Besides local doctors (generally good quality but often working in poor facilities) there are several Western-styled medical centres in major Russian cities. These all have different policies for payment so make sure you know what you are paying for (and when and how) before you agree to any services. Be careful not to buy fake vodka, which can be dangerous (seriously here, 'dangerous' doesn't mean 'strong'; it can contain methanol). Only buy vodka in large stores or specialized ones, with the sticker over the cap and/or the region's barcode on the side. Significant number of food stores, including some food/goods chains, standalone food shops, kiosks and food markets are famous for selling food of bad quality, including out-of-date or even out-of-date with expire date reprinted with a later date. Although most of them are quite good, when possible, check the quality of the food with visual observation, don't especially trust expire date labels, that are added in a replaceable way. Also you can take note of what others are buying, sometimes you can even ask other buyers which product is better, it's considered normal. That could help you make a good choice. Examples of usually bad quality food sold are most of fish products, including smoked and spicy salted (be especially care), pre-made salads, fresh vegetables and fruits, when you can't handpick them (at markets check them after shop-women picked them for you, you can usually change those you don't like, at shops they usually don't allow to change, and use to add some bad ones into bag), vegetables conservatives sold with discount (and with older production date usually), cheaper dairy products, though less consistent, checking what others buy may help you here. Producers of juices can not mark their production as juice (rus: сок) if it isn't 100% juice. Today, all low quality juices marked as nectar (rus: нектар) are up to 50-70% of water and "fruit drinks" (rus: фруктовый напиток) can contain anything! Russia's HIV prevalence is steadily rising, mainly for prostitutes, young adults and drug users. Be safe. Like in Northern and Central Europe and much of North America, there may be ticks in the nature - including the taiga tick (Ixodes persulcatus) and castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus). These creatures can spread Lyme disease, relapsing fever (Borrelia miyamotoi), babesiosis, and Siberian (TBEV-Sib) and Far Eastern (TBEV-FE) tick-borne encephalitis.

Scams & street smarts

No summary available.