24 June 2018, Sunday
After the late night out yesterday, I did not set my alarm clock and just slept in today. In any case, staying in a dormitory, you are bound to wake up naturally by the other “alarm clocks” – your bunk mates who happen to snore loudly, flip over and cause the bed to creak, or those who are checking out early and create a mini ruckus while packing their stuff.
I left the hostel at about 8:30am and had breakfast at Burger King near the Tsvetnoy Bulvar Metro station, which cost 340 RUB (S$7.50). I took my time and ate slowly because I was only meeting Viktor at Tsaritsyno Park at about 1:00pm. After breakfast, I went to a supermarket and bought some pastries before taking the Metro to Tsaritsyno station.
I arrived at the Central Gate entrance of Tsaritsyno Park at 11:20am. The weather was beautiful, about 20 degrees Celsius, with puffy white clouds floating in the sky. I saw many locals decked in sports attire and carrying yoga mats. Seemed like they were all going to the Yoga festival at the park.
As it was still early, I took a leisurely stroll around the park. It is officially called Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve (click here) as it includes a palace complex and a park (nature reserve). Tsaritsyno was founded by Empress Catherine II (aka Catherine the Great) as her countryside residence and it is the only Pseudo-Gothic palace in Russia. It was designed exclusively by Russian architects but it incorporates French classicism and Gothic techniques with elements of Russian architecture of the 17th century.
I walked past a big fountain with traditional Russian music being played on loudspeakers, then crossed a bridge to the other side, where there was a big lake. I read that there was a palace in the park so I decided to pay it a visit. In fact, there are a few attractions in the park and you can buy a combined ticket to see all of them for 780 RUB (S$18.14). However, I only wanted to see the Grand Palace (which is now a museum) so I bought the Grand Palace + Bread House ticket. It normally costs 350 RUB but FIFA Fan ID holders get a 50% discount so I only paid 175 RUB (S$4.07). The Fan ID has come in very useful indeed!
The Grand Palace is not as big as the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, but the main hall, Catherine’s Hall, is covered in gold and every bit as grand and lavish. At the far end of the hall is a white marble sculpture of the Empress Catherine II. It was completed and unveiled on 6 November 1896, 100 years after her death.
Catherine II, aka Catherine the Great, was a formidable empress who brought sweeping changes to the way Russia was governed. She established the rule of law and reformed the educational system radically. She was beloved by the people and was the last female ruler of Russia.
There were many artefacts in the museum but unfortunately, many of the exhibits only came with Russian descriptions, so I was not able to fully appreciate them. I also paid a quick visit to the Bread House, which contained an exhibition of large yarn rugs with impressive and colourful patterns. They were like paintings, just of a different medium.
At about 12:35pm, I left the museum and followed the people carrying yoga mats towards the source of music. Viktor was right, it was a huge festival celebrating International Yoga Day and there were so many things going on. Tents and booths were set up all over the park. Some had musicians playing traditional Indian music, some were stalls selling wellness products while others sold organic food and beverages. Most impressive were the numerous tents with different types of yoga practice, and many of them were packed to the brim with participants. It was a big carnival and I was happy to see that all of the visitors were locals.
I never knew that yoga was big in Russia. In fact, Viktor is a big fan of yoga and he spent two months in India last year practising yoga. And he is planning a trip to Bali during winter this year to study yoga more deeply. It is proof yet again of how the world knows no geographical boundaries and humans really are not so different from each other despite our different backgrounds and where we live.
Viktor informed me that he would be at “11 site”. As I walked around the park, I saw that the tents were numbered so I went looking for number 11. However, when I got there, I didn’t see him around. I texted him but there was no reply, so I figured he must be in the midst of a yoga session somewhere, so I didn’t want to disturb him. I just walked around to observe the proceedings and managed to spot him much later.
We then grabbed lunch at one of the booths – a healthy meal of rice with tofu, vegetables, tomatoes and bread, and a small bottle of refreshing juice (600 RUB/S$13.95). Viktor said he was planning to hang around the park for a while longer, and I said I didn’t have anything planned for the day, so I didn’t mind joining him. After all, it was a very fine day to be at the park and it was a nice place to relax.
So we just walked around the park and the lake. We saw a couple taking wedding photos, families having picnics on the lawns, couples paddling boats on the lake and people walking their dogs. It was a very relaxed day and I was glad to see the locals in their natural environment, away from the touristy places in the city.
We then walked back to the tents where we decided to join a dance community called Ecstatic Dance. Everyone was barefoot so I kicked off my shoes and joined the crowd of about 40 people in the tent. The DJ started with a slow tune to ease us into the music, and we slowly let ourselves loose. And the beat got faster and the music built up in intensity, and suddenly it became a rave party. We had our hands in the air, squealing and yelping because we felt like it, but most importantly, we all had big smiles on our faces.
It was so fun as everyone just moved along to the beat, regardless of whether you knew how to dance or not. No one was judging you based on how awkwardly your limbs moved or how coordinated you were. Being barefoot, you could feel the rhythm and connect physically with the earth. It totally felt like we were on drugs but we were not, of course. No wonder it’s called Ecstatic Dance, because it looked like we were on Ecstasy.
Gradually, the music slowed down and an acoustic tune with soothing vocals filled the tent. It was a very moving tune. As I closed my eyes, I pictured myself being in Nepal, sitting on a rock under a big tree and looking at a majestic snow mountain opposite me. As the wind blew, I could feel the strips of cloth that were hanging at the tent’s entrance flapping and gently caressing my face. I imagined them to be the leaves from the tree. It was a very zen moment and I felt totally at peace then.
The music then eased down to an instrumental tune and everyone swayed gently to the beat. At the end of the session, we gathered in a circle and held hands. The person who conducted the session spoke to us in Russian, and even though I didn’t understand a word of it, it didn’t matter because we were all connected physically and spiritually together.
It might have sounded like a cult but rest assured, it was not. It was just a beautiful session where everyone could be free to express themselves without people judging you. It was the most liberating I had felt during the whole trip. It reminded me of the lyrics in Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) aka The Sunscreen Song. In particular, the bit that says: “Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own. Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.”
After the ecstatic dance session, we walked around a bit more before joining a yoga session. The instructor conducted the class in Russian but also spoke English to my benefit, so I was able to follow. I hadn’t done yoga for months so I was a little tensed and inflexible at first, but I gradually eased into it.
Just beside the yoga tent, there was a man who had two brick-sized blocks with dozens of sharp nails sticking out of them. Viktor asked if I would like to try standing on the nails. I was a little apprehensive initially, but I decided to try it out after assessing that it was safe enough. The man who had the nails said it was all in the mind, and assured me that he would be there for me and won’t let me go.
I took off my shoes and socks. The man stood in front of me with both his arms stretched out horizontally at a 90-degree angle towards my body. The blocks with the nails were on the ground between us. I placed both my arms on his arms and grabbed his forearms as I stepped onto the nails gingerly, one foot at a time. I felt a dozen stinging sensations at once. It was painful but I managed not to make any noise. The man could feel my body tense up, so he told me to relax my shoulders and keep on breathing.
I tried to divert my attention away from the soles of my feet and focus on something else. I did my best to keep breathing but after about a minute or so, I couldn’t take it anymore and came off. After that, he told me to stamp my feet on the ground to let it all out, and make some noise if I have to, and that was exactly what I did.
I feel a sense of accomplishment to have tried it but I know that I could have done much better. It is really all in the mind and the pain is just a sensation that can be switched off if you are mentally strong enough. Viktor later told me that he had done it a few times and managed to stand on the nails for 30 minutes at one go, so it was possible to train for it. Well, for a first-timer, I think one minute is quite decent! But yeah, never underestimate the power of your mind.
After the nail-biting session, we walked around some more and decided to join a meditation session, which was already taking place halfway. We joined them for about 10 minutes, and my body felt totally relaxed after that. I bade farewell to Viktor at about 8:05pm as he went back to the park to go for another round of ecstatic dance.
After that, I went to Red Square with the intention to catch the live telecast of a World Cup match. I thought there would be a screening at the FIFA tent at Red Square but there wasn’t. There only sponsor booths and games for fans, but no big screen. I then decided to head over to Arbat Street to have some dinner and check out the area, since it was supposed to be one of the main shopping streets in Moscow.
When I arrived at Arbat Street, I felt that it was a bit too glitzy and commercialised for my liking. The hotel buildings had LED lights on their windows flashing FIFA World Cup messages and there were too many pubs and noise. Perhaps it was because this was after a day of yoga and zen so I felt it was a little off-putting. Nevertheless, I still needed dinner so I settled on a Chinese restaurant that happened to screen the football match. I ordered a beef hor fun and a bottle of Pepsi (610 RUB/S$14.19 altogether). The hor fun was a little too salty, as usual.
After that, I went to the supermarket and bought a bottle of fresh milk before heading back to the hostel. It had been a marvellous day spent relaxing the mind and body, and I really enjoyed chatting with Viktor (relying on Google Translate quite often). To me, this is the most rewarding part of travelling – meeting locals and getting to know them a little better. Getting some insight on how they live and how they think. And hopefully in the process, they get to know Singapore a little better too.