Day 80: FU*KING COPS!!!
Visiting Kharkiv is a pretty last minute decision but since I have the time on hand, why not? Kharkiv is the birthplace of soviet nuclear industry, and now, with more than 100,000 university students including foreign students, it is a lively student town. As usual, I arrived at the train station in the morning. Took some pictures of Kharkiv train station.
This station was built in 1952.
Quiz time. Can you recognise the russian word that says "station"?
First thing first, I went over to my next host's place, dropped my belongings and off I went exploring this town. Hey!! I love to see the big "M" sign. Well, it is not the McDonalds M that I am talkng about. It is M which stands for Metro. Why? Cause with metro, it makes navigation and getting to places very much easier especially if you can't read or speak the local language.
Although Ukraine is the largest country in europe (total area of 603,628 km2), there are only 2 towns with metro. The capitial, Kiev, and here, Kharkiv. And just like the metro stations in Kiev, they are quite a sight. High ceilings and space age chandeliers.
First place of visit, the Ploshcha Svobody which is a very huge square which the locals claim to be the second largest in the world after the Tian1 An1 Men2 in Beijing, China. It is 750m long. However, it might not be true as The Red Square in Moscow also claim to be the second largest in the world. So, which is the actual second largest? I will find out one day when I get to Moscow.
So, here are some pictures taken at Ploshcha Svobody, the second largest square in the world (let's give it the benefit of doubt for the time being). :)
As usual, you will find Lenin standing tall and proud looking at the whole square (He is really everywhere, in every soviet countries).
Kharkiv was the republican capitial that was built between 1925 and 1925. Damaged during the World war II, it was largely rebuilt by Germans POWs. The following is a photo of the late 1920s Derzhprom (House of State Industry). Though it look just like another ordinary building to you and me now, it was the first SKY SCRAPER of the Soviet. Well, ofcourse, it can't be a sky scraper now. Technology has evolved.
This is the University building.
Right next to the university building is the Shevchenko Park.
The temperature is dropping. Winter is coming. People are already putting on their thick clothings.
The Statue of Taras Shevchenko portaries the heroic poet surrounded by 16 peaseants, Cossacks and other Ukrainians representing the national history.
Russian lessons again. This word you see in the picture means toilet.
What comes to your mind what someone mention soviets? KGB!! They are really famous aint they? Everyone knows about the KGB. Well, here is one of the former KGB buildings. Oh no.. am I being spied on now? Please dont kil me.
Across the former KGB building lies another park. Here's a boy being curious about the Orthodox Cross.
The buildings here in Kharkiv are of the same kind as those in Odessa. Both make use of humans as part of the building desgins. Let's see what we have here. Half naked man.
Women in Bras.
Man with Chain.
Man in underwear.
and more.
Its time to visit some more churches. Along the way, I saw some tanks
and a battalion of infantry.
Pokrovska Monastery.
Uspensky Catherdal, now a concert hall.
The Blahoveshchensky Catherdal. It looks like a candy or ice cream with its red and cream strips.
A flee market near the church.
Hey, this fire place is just like those in kazakhstan and Krygyzstan. Soviet thing again?
Trams aint an asian thing. It is uncommon to see a network of electric tram cable on the streets of Asia.
I also paid a visit to the Tsentralny Rynok (Central market). Along the way I passed by a river,
saw some ducks
and a lovely cute tree with balls of leaves.
Here's the market.
Well, like I mentioned previously, the metro stations here are quite an attraction itself and it was recommanded that I check out the stained glass portraits of Yuri Gagarin above the stairs to the plaforms at the Pr Gagarina station. And so I did. I made my way there, not knowing that I am going to experience the WORST travelling encounter of my Cold Journey.
PLEASE READ!
The police in Ukraine always stop foreigners on the streets and ask to see their passports. I was not really used to being stopped and checked everyday at first but I had already got used to it ever since I stepped into ukraine. Sometimes they dont even check if I have the vaild visa in my passport, they just see the photo and thats it. At times it seems that they were only going through motions. But well, that's all. Nothing else happened. But today, I ran into a different situation. I had heard lots of terrible stories about how cops bully foreigners in other countries but till this very moment, I had no negative encounter at all. Not until I met them.
At the Pr Gagarina metro station, I was stop by a policeman who does not speaks english(very common in ukraine) and after looking at my passport, he led me into a room. There another policeman joined him. Let's call the guy who doesnt speaks english "X" and the other "Y".
In the room, X sat down at his desk and started speaking to me in Russian while me and Y stood there. Not understanding what he said, I kept repeating, "Ang-list-ki, Nat Russ-ki, Ang-list-ki, Nat Russ-ki" Which means "english, no russian, english, no russian" in russian. X seems to be higher in rank than Y and so he ordered Y to speak to me. Y spoke bits of english.
They started asking me questions like do I have drugs? DO I have any guns with me? What am I doing here in Ukraine? How much money did I brought into Ukraine? Did I declare the amount of money I brought in? etc etc. And I answered all of their questions. Clearly, I had no legal issues. Then X demanded to check my bag. He went though all my stuff in my bag. Feeling that they do not have the right to do this, I asked them them why are they doing this? All my doucments are ok and so why are they searching me? Based on terms are they searching me? What are they searching for? Well, ofcourse they dont understand. Or maybe they were just ignoring me. Maybe they just want to have some fun.
Then X asked Y to do a body search on me while he continued looking into my bag. Y asked me to turn around and he searched me thoroughly. He made me take off my shoes, socks etc and when he was done, I turned back and got a shock. X poured everything out of my bag. He emptied every single thing out of every single compartment of my bag and wallet onto his table. Everything was in a big mess. My book, papers, money notes, coins, camera, batteries, visa, passport, cards, map etc. You name it, you have it.
Seeing that Y was done with the body search, X began asking me questions again. He kept asking me if I had declared the amount of money I brought in. I told him NO. There wasnt such a requirement. I only brought in a few hundred dollers. Not tens of thousands. So there wasnt a need to do so. But he kept insisting that I have to do it and he started to raise his voice. Damn him, does he even know his own country's law? If there is a need to do so, I would had done it at the immigration. So there he was shouting and shouting at me and I just kept say no No NO!
Then X changed the topic. He asked me where am I staying at. I said at a friend's place. (Though I only met my host today, I had to tell him that she is my friend. Cause it would not be convincing to him if I told him that I am staying with my host, someone I just met today. He wont understand and it would only complicate things.) Upon hearing that my friend is a she, he demanded me to give her a call and he wants to speak to her. but I told him that my friend is working at this time and she would not be able to answer the phone. Still he insisted that I must call. Idiot guy. True enough, noone answered the call.
So X went back to looking through my stuffs and asking me more questions. After awhile, my host called back. (Guess my host, being a good host, made the effort to return my call during her working hours to see if I am ok. I felt so guilty to trouble her.) The police officer happily took the phone from me and after awhile he hang up. Then he asked if I know how to get back "home". I said roughly and he said never mind call your friend again and I will help u find out. I said never mind, I will be able to find my way back but he insisted that I call again. Alright, fine. So I called and he took the phone from me.
When he hang up, he said that I can now go. Since my things are all over his desk now, I took my time to neatly arrange it back into my bag as I have proper place as to where my map should go, where my passport should be etc. I need time to do it. But X rush me to get out. I said to him, "okok, let me pack my things alright?" But he dont care and wanted me out of his room immediately. "GET OUT NOW!!", X shouted. Fine, I swept everything into my bag and he asked Y to escorted me to the busstop where I can take a bus back and then Y left.
While waiting for my bus to come, I was thinking about the whole incident. What the hell was all this about? Haven they got anything better to do? Maybe they have some time on hand to kill and so they decided to have some fun on me. Anyway, my bus came. I boarded the bus. As a habit, I always asked the driver if this bus is going to the place where I am going and luckily I asked cause that policeman brought me to the wrong busstop. Idiot!
I went across the streets and wait for the bus again. My bus came, I went up, took out my wallet for the bus fare and it was then that I realised why they wanted to search me; why they messed up my stuffs and why they want me to leave in such a hurry. Because they have STOLEN my money and they do not want me to find out. YES THESE FU*KING COPS STOLE MY $$$$$$$$$$$$!!!! close to USD$100 worth of Ukrainian currency!!!
Sigh. I had been eating less, controlling my expensives, walk if possible and not take a bus, taking 3rd class train instead of 2nd class, cook instead of eat out, all these just to save money so that I can travel longer and all these efforts have gone down the drain.
Should I make a police report? WAIT! The cops stole from me. who else can we trust? Although this might be a stand alone case but still.... !#@$$#^#@!! I have got nothing to say. Just nice that I had extra cash on me today as I need to pay for my Chernobyl trip the day after, if not I dont carry much cash with me. And just nice that I ran into this incident today. Everything fit just well. Sigh..
I was really angry and fustered about it until I remembered that 10% of what happens in life is beyond our control and 90% of it is. This 90% depends on our attitude and respond to that 10%, and reacts accordingly to it. I can choose to be angry and let this whole incident spoilt my mood throughout this trip and then I will not be able to enjoy myself. I can also choose to get over it fast and just let it go. Just pretend that some dogs ate my money or some son of a B*tch took my $$ cause he desperately need the $$ if not he will die or maybe he has a critically ill mum who needs the money to go for an operation if not she will die and he does not have the money.
Like I always said, everything happens for a reason. We might not know the answer to it now but we will find out someday. And so I chose to let it go. Dont let it spoilt my trip.
Well, Ah Loy (my previous host) asked me this question out of the blue last night. He asked if I always put all my money in my wallet. That might be an indication or served as a warning. But I just did not get it. See, everything happens for a reason and if we understand that, We are in control of our life. It all depends on how we want to see things. To see things from which angle. As for me, I always choose to look on the bright side of life.
It was quite a painful experience but I guess this is just a part of travelling. Which traveller has never experience something negative? I bet none. We just experience it in many different ways. Everytime we fall, we get up and we learn from it. Thats it. Thats life.
Anyway, I got back to my host place and she prepared dinner for me. Very nice of her.
Ukrainians love to have candies and chocolates after dinner. She was no exception. These were all very delicious. I can still remember the taste and texture of it even when I think of them.
HAHA! The nickname of this candy is BIRDSHIT!
Yah, I know. I have already gotten enough shit for today and let she is giving me more shit. HAHAHAHA!!! I am just kidding but I have to say this, THIS SHIT TASTE GOOD!! I LOVE THIS SHIT!!! hahahaha....
It is really delicious. It is. Really.... Guess I am gonna miss this shit....
*Click HERE to return to the Main Page of The Cold Journey.*
This station was built in 1952.
Quiz time. Can you recognise the russian word that says "station"?
First thing first, I went over to my next host's place, dropped my belongings and off I went exploring this town. Hey!! I love to see the big "M" sign. Well, it is not the McDonalds M that I am talkng about. It is M which stands for Metro. Why? Cause with metro, it makes navigation and getting to places very much easier especially if you can't read or speak the local language.
Although Ukraine is the largest country in europe (total area of 603,628 km2), there are only 2 towns with metro. The capitial, Kiev, and here, Kharkiv. And just like the metro stations in Kiev, they are quite a sight. High ceilings and space age chandeliers.
First place of visit, the Ploshcha Svobody which is a very huge square which the locals claim to be the second largest in the world after the Tian1 An1 Men2 in Beijing, China. It is 750m long. However, it might not be true as The Red Square in Moscow also claim to be the second largest in the world. So, which is the actual second largest? I will find out one day when I get to Moscow.
So, here are some pictures taken at Ploshcha Svobody, the second largest square in the world (let's give it the benefit of doubt for the time being). :)
As usual, you will find Lenin standing tall and proud looking at the whole square (He is really everywhere, in every soviet countries).
Kharkiv was the republican capitial that was built between 1925 and 1925. Damaged during the World war II, it was largely rebuilt by Germans POWs. The following is a photo of the late 1920s Derzhprom (House of State Industry). Though it look just like another ordinary building to you and me now, it was the first SKY SCRAPER of the Soviet. Well, ofcourse, it can't be a sky scraper now. Technology has evolved.
This is the University building.
Right next to the university building is the Shevchenko Park.
The temperature is dropping. Winter is coming. People are already putting on their thick clothings.
The Statue of Taras Shevchenko portaries the heroic poet surrounded by 16 peaseants, Cossacks and other Ukrainians representing the national history.
Russian lessons again. This word you see in the picture means toilet.
What comes to your mind what someone mention soviets? KGB!! They are really famous aint they? Everyone knows about the KGB. Well, here is one of the former KGB buildings. Oh no.. am I being spied on now? Please dont kil me.
Across the former KGB building lies another park. Here's a boy being curious about the Orthodox Cross.
The buildings here in Kharkiv are of the same kind as those in Odessa. Both make use of humans as part of the building desgins. Let's see what we have here. Half naked man.
Women in Bras.
Man with Chain.
Man in underwear.
and more.
Its time to visit some more churches. Along the way, I saw some tanks
and a battalion of infantry.
Pokrovska Monastery.
Uspensky Catherdal, now a concert hall.
The Blahoveshchensky Catherdal. It looks like a candy or ice cream with its red and cream strips.
A flee market near the church.
Hey, this fire place is just like those in kazakhstan and Krygyzstan. Soviet thing again?
Trams aint an asian thing. It is uncommon to see a network of electric tram cable on the streets of Asia.
I also paid a visit to the Tsentralny Rynok (Central market). Along the way I passed by a river,
saw some ducks
and a lovely cute tree with balls of leaves.
Here's the market.
Well, like I mentioned previously, the metro stations here are quite an attraction itself and it was recommanded that I check out the stained glass portraits of Yuri Gagarin above the stairs to the plaforms at the Pr Gagarina station. And so I did. I made my way there, not knowing that I am going to experience the WORST travelling encounter of my Cold Journey.
PLEASE READ!
The police in Ukraine always stop foreigners on the streets and ask to see their passports. I was not really used to being stopped and checked everyday at first but I had already got used to it ever since I stepped into ukraine. Sometimes they dont even check if I have the vaild visa in my passport, they just see the photo and thats it. At times it seems that they were only going through motions. But well, that's all. Nothing else happened. But today, I ran into a different situation. I had heard lots of terrible stories about how cops bully foreigners in other countries but till this very moment, I had no negative encounter at all. Not until I met them.
At the Pr Gagarina metro station, I was stop by a policeman who does not speaks english(very common in ukraine) and after looking at my passport, he led me into a room. There another policeman joined him. Let's call the guy who doesnt speaks english "X" and the other "Y".
In the room, X sat down at his desk and started speaking to me in Russian while me and Y stood there. Not understanding what he said, I kept repeating, "Ang-list-ki, Nat Russ-ki, Ang-list-ki, Nat Russ-ki" Which means "english, no russian, english, no russian" in russian. X seems to be higher in rank than Y and so he ordered Y to speak to me. Y spoke bits of english.
They started asking me questions like do I have drugs? DO I have any guns with me? What am I doing here in Ukraine? How much money did I brought into Ukraine? Did I declare the amount of money I brought in? etc etc. And I answered all of their questions. Clearly, I had no legal issues. Then X demanded to check my bag. He went though all my stuff in my bag. Feeling that they do not have the right to do this, I asked them them why are they doing this? All my doucments are ok and so why are they searching me? Based on terms are they searching me? What are they searching for? Well, ofcourse they dont understand. Or maybe they were just ignoring me. Maybe they just want to have some fun.
Then X asked Y to do a body search on me while he continued looking into my bag. Y asked me to turn around and he searched me thoroughly. He made me take off my shoes, socks etc and when he was done, I turned back and got a shock. X poured everything out of my bag. He emptied every single thing out of every single compartment of my bag and wallet onto his table. Everything was in a big mess. My book, papers, money notes, coins, camera, batteries, visa, passport, cards, map etc. You name it, you have it.
Seeing that Y was done with the body search, X began asking me questions again. He kept asking me if I had declared the amount of money I brought in. I told him NO. There wasnt such a requirement. I only brought in a few hundred dollers. Not tens of thousands. So there wasnt a need to do so. But he kept insisting that I have to do it and he started to raise his voice. Damn him, does he even know his own country's law? If there is a need to do so, I would had done it at the immigration. So there he was shouting and shouting at me and I just kept say no No NO!
Then X changed the topic. He asked me where am I staying at. I said at a friend's place. (Though I only met my host today, I had to tell him that she is my friend. Cause it would not be convincing to him if I told him that I am staying with my host, someone I just met today. He wont understand and it would only complicate things.) Upon hearing that my friend is a she, he demanded me to give her a call and he wants to speak to her. but I told him that my friend is working at this time and she would not be able to answer the phone. Still he insisted that I must call. Idiot guy. True enough, noone answered the call.
So X went back to looking through my stuffs and asking me more questions. After awhile, my host called back. (Guess my host, being a good host, made the effort to return my call during her working hours to see if I am ok. I felt so guilty to trouble her.) The police officer happily took the phone from me and after awhile he hang up. Then he asked if I know how to get back "home". I said roughly and he said never mind call your friend again and I will help u find out. I said never mind, I will be able to find my way back but he insisted that I call again. Alright, fine. So I called and he took the phone from me.
When he hang up, he said that I can now go. Since my things are all over his desk now, I took my time to neatly arrange it back into my bag as I have proper place as to where my map should go, where my passport should be etc. I need time to do it. But X rush me to get out. I said to him, "okok, let me pack my things alright?" But he dont care and wanted me out of his room immediately. "GET OUT NOW!!", X shouted. Fine, I swept everything into my bag and he asked Y to escorted me to the busstop where I can take a bus back and then Y left.
While waiting for my bus to come, I was thinking about the whole incident. What the hell was all this about? Haven they got anything better to do? Maybe they have some time on hand to kill and so they decided to have some fun on me. Anyway, my bus came. I boarded the bus. As a habit, I always asked the driver if this bus is going to the place where I am going and luckily I asked cause that policeman brought me to the wrong busstop. Idiot!
I went across the streets and wait for the bus again. My bus came, I went up, took out my wallet for the bus fare and it was then that I realised why they wanted to search me; why they messed up my stuffs and why they want me to leave in such a hurry. Because they have STOLEN my money and they do not want me to find out. YES THESE FU*KING COPS STOLE MY $$$$$$$$$$$$!!!! close to USD$100 worth of Ukrainian currency!!!
Sigh. I had been eating less, controlling my expensives, walk if possible and not take a bus, taking 3rd class train instead of 2nd class, cook instead of eat out, all these just to save money so that I can travel longer and all these efforts have gone down the drain.
Should I make a police report? WAIT! The cops stole from me. who else can we trust? Although this might be a stand alone case but still.... !#@$$#^#@!! I have got nothing to say. Just nice that I had extra cash on me today as I need to pay for my Chernobyl trip the day after, if not I dont carry much cash with me. And just nice that I ran into this incident today. Everything fit just well. Sigh..
I was really angry and fustered about it until I remembered that 10% of what happens in life is beyond our control and 90% of it is. This 90% depends on our attitude and respond to that 10%, and reacts accordingly to it. I can choose to be angry and let this whole incident spoilt my mood throughout this trip and then I will not be able to enjoy myself. I can also choose to get over it fast and just let it go. Just pretend that some dogs ate my money or some son of a B*tch took my $$ cause he desperately need the $$ if not he will die or maybe he has a critically ill mum who needs the money to go for an operation if not she will die and he does not have the money.
Like I always said, everything happens for a reason. We might not know the answer to it now but we will find out someday. And so I chose to let it go. Dont let it spoilt my trip.
Well, Ah Loy (my previous host) asked me this question out of the blue last night. He asked if I always put all my money in my wallet. That might be an indication or served as a warning. But I just did not get it. See, everything happens for a reason and if we understand that, We are in control of our life. It all depends on how we want to see things. To see things from which angle. As for me, I always choose to look on the bright side of life.
It was quite a painful experience but I guess this is just a part of travelling. Which traveller has never experience something negative? I bet none. We just experience it in many different ways. Everytime we fall, we get up and we learn from it. Thats it. Thats life.
Anyway, I got back to my host place and she prepared dinner for me. Very nice of her.
Ukrainians love to have candies and chocolates after dinner. She was no exception. These were all very delicious. I can still remember the taste and texture of it even when I think of them.
HAHA! The nickname of this candy is BIRDSHIT!
Yah, I know. I have already gotten enough shit for today and let she is giving me more shit. HAHAHAHA!!! I am just kidding but I have to say this, THIS SHIT TASTE GOOD!! I LOVE THIS SHIT!!! hahahaha....
It is really delicious. It is. Really.... Guess I am gonna miss this shit....
*Click HERE to return to the Main Page of The Cold Journey.*
posted by ZeeVinCeZ at 12:07 AM
7 Comments:
That whole harassment thing was about money. At first they probably hoped that you would offer them a bribe (as most people do) but when they realized that you were not going to give them money, they stole it from you, after creating a very confusing situation.
This kind of corruption is very common in most slavic countries, i'm surprised that you didn't encounter this before.
Such harassment are not common, but they do happen, even in Singapore.
I went through such harassment in Singapore immigration before, just to get money from me. I am a Singaporean.
(McMad) Yeah.. never encounter it before throughout my whole journey till now..
(Anonymous) I could not believe that you said it happen in Singapore. Moreover you are Singaporean. Bet it must be tens of years ago isn't it?
Can't happen in Singapore. Not in this day and age. One complaint and the officer would be suspended from duty pending a thorough investigation. No police would be so stupid as to risk their job for small gains like that cos they all know they can never get away with it. I'm pretty sure the above anonymous guy is not a Singaporean.
yeah..i agree that you are quite lucky that you only encounter this once..it's common and we encounter these most of the time,the police are paid very lowly so that's why..i'm glad u maintain a positive attitude and move on with your adventures!!!
Ya, everything happens for a reason, maybe now they took your money but later they will get their retribution. Don't worry.
As long as you are safe, I guess that's the most important thing right?
Just Be careful ~
Take Care~
Thats right Lonely Lifeless Girl!! Thanks!!
Post a Comment
<< Home