Post by BJi will be in minsk for 2 nights september 2nd and third love to meet anybody
there
Hello Ben Jason, or what ever your name is (don't feel shy to for the
least present yourself with a firstname;)
I don't live in Belarus myself, but as a relatively experienced
traveler in Russia and CIS, including Belarus, I would like to give you
some advice on ways to get in contact with local people.
Starting on your travel to Minsk, taking a nighttrain from for instance
St Petersburg, Warshaw or Vilnius is a great way to meet with people
from all walks of life (and save 150 Euro+ by taking a flight to any of
those cities instead of Minsk and save a night a hotel). Bring a bottle
of wine or anything to share with your travel companions in the kupe (a
recommmend a so called kupe or 4 person sleeper, compared with the
platsny kart where you share with 15-20 persons). Even if you speak
little or no Russian (it is relatively seldom you meet someone who
speaks English) neither of you is going anywhere anyway in the hours to
come.
In Minsk I can highly recommend homestayes as a way of meeting locals
and responsible tourism. You will get you own room in the flat of a
family. Normally a light breakfast is included. If you are interested I
can put you in contact with agencies who can arrange this for you.
Normally your hosts will speak a decent English. They will also
probably be able to give you advice on where you can meet people.
If you want to meet young people like students, they usually hang out
at the metro in the evenings. If I don't remember wrong, you can find
them at Akademya Navuk (If St Petersburg is in your plans, check out
metrostation Sportivnaya). Can someone who livs in Minsk, confirm this
and/or give other advice on places where you can meet young people in
the evenings? Young people hanging out on the metro is in my experience
very interested in getting in concat with foreigners and give thir
opinion on the political situation and of cours talk about subjects
that young people are interested in. There is very likely to be some
people who speaks English among them.
It is not very likely that you will meet any interesting people in
upclass bars, restaurant and night clubs. If you only stay for a night
or two, I would advice you to simply take my word for that you will
hardly be very impresed by the night club establishments and the people
who hangs out there.
Another way I have met people in Belarus is to take some daytrips to
the rural ares outside Minsk. You can read about one daytrip I made
from Minsk in this travelreport:
http://www.thorsnas.com/belarus2005/russland2005full.pdf
I wish you a nice stay in Minsk,
Jan