Petropavlovsk - its not about Snowboarding and Volcanos!!!!!!!!

With the news that the weather is unlikely to clear tomorrow, and in celebration of one of the guides' birthday, we decided to go to one of Petropavlovsk's night spots. I was told the the places only starts to rock at 2am (15h00 Moscow time = body clocks). When 2 am rolled around, I was blown away, absolutely blown away.

I was blown away by how many women there were, I was blown away by how beautiful the many women were, I was blown away by how friendly the many beautiful women were, and I was blown away with how many of the friendly beautiful women spoke English. I was even told by one that "although my English isn't as good as my friends', I make up with it with my beautiful smile", upon which she flashed her beautiful smile.

Just when I thought I couldn't be more pleasantly surprised, in walk a new surprise; someone I knew!

While sitting in Bakshis (aka the Green Punjabi) in Gulmarg, Kashmir in late February after buying a ridiculous one-piece at the market and relaxing over a chai with Michael, in walked a Zelena and she asked what we where drinking and if it was any good. Zelena had just arrived in Gulmarg for some freeskiing and we struck up a conversation. She is Russian and originally from Petropavlovsk although no longer living there. She was back on holiday when I ran into her. In Gulmarg she had warned me that I might not get powder in May in Kamchatka, a statement that had been eating away at me in the back of my mind since. We spoke for a while in the sportbar about the new frontiers of skiing and boarding and also introduced me to some of her friends that I had already had the pleasure of meeting.

It was after 6am by the time I got home and I was happy for bad weather and a long sleep off on Saturday.

To anyone whoever finds themselves in Petropavlovsk, I highly recommend a trip to the Sportbar on a Friday or Saturday night. Its a great way to get your body onto local time, its a great way meet locals, and its an absolutely fantastic party.

I don't think my worlds really do the Sportbar justice. Its a polished diamond when you are expecting pebbles. It is enigmatic. It is as good a party as you find anywhere. Here are a few pictures.

The glitzy Hotel Cosmos (Гостиница "Космос", Москва): Solaris nightclub

Surprisingly we didn't find a place in Moscow to go out in. We didn't like the look of the Casinos on the strip, and the pub we had been directed to was closing when we arrived. After watching the champions league game and a street fight, we headed back to Hotel Cosmos and where greeted by an invitation to go to the local night club called Solaris. I had hoped to do some dancing and had hoped to punctuate out trip through Moscow with some of its famous night life. There was plenty of dancing, of every variety, very little of which was performed by any of the nightclub's patrons.