Gifts for Russians

[glock_girl]

I want to bring gifts when I come to Russia. I was thinking about bringing things from here that are not so readily available in Russia. Any suggestions? What would be allowed to come into Russia?

Also, what about food (ie: chocolates) and alcohol? I read that some alcohol is permitted to come into Russia. I can't seem to get much of a straight answer from guidebooks.

I would appreciate any input!

Thanks,
Amy

[ILay]

Hello Amy!

Always a hard question for me as well - what to bring as gifts ?

what would I suggest to bring with is:

books (english and french language). It's quite hard to buy them here, especially the educational ones.

Some audio cds are hard to find as well. (It all depends on a music taste of your friends of course). Like ambients style, art rock etc (everything else from mainsstream).

Some things are much cheaper in the west - like pda's, laptops and such.

Ordinary souvenirs will be ok.

Food and alcohol specialities from your place would be super.

---

Normally it's said in Russia that the gift is not the main thing - the main thing is attention.
Most of the Russians aged fm 25 to 40 will be very much pleased with something unusual. It could be cigars or a lighter for the one who smoke. An american styled tie for a business man. Ethnic or cowboy hat or a couple of cowboy shoes as an example etc.

What is better not to bring with you is glass, porcelan, silver and such. The tastes are different here from what people have in West-Europe and Americas so it's better not to bring clothes or some eau de toilette.

---

food and alcohol:

It's allowed to bring it (Still I am not sure about the fruits and vegetables). You can bring up to 5 liters alcohol to Russia. But it's better not to bring the alcohol which can easy be bought in Russia. Usually a person will be more pleased to get a bottle of something if you would tell him that this can not be found outside Canada (btw it's totally ok to bring alcohol as gift to Russia.). And of course everyone would be pleased if you would create some kind of a 'Canada party' for your Russian friends with some traditional food and drink

Well so far on this subject.
I'll check about the custom rules more in-depth and let you know.

[Dr_Woland]

2 ILay

welcome back, Starsky, I've missed you.

- Hutch.
______________________________

2 Glock_Girl

I believe you're flying into MOSCOW airport, not St P, right? The main things the Customs people are concerned in Moscow ("same rules but different methodology to St P") about is CASH MONEY. (oh, and all the illegal things you cannot bring to any country, of course, but that's a given).
They really don't care about alcohol limits - you can pretty-much bring as much as you can carry.

[And when I say "carry", I mean it - you cannot always get luggage-trolleys there, usually because the pay-service porters have hidden them to force you to use their services - don't, it's a total rip, $15 to carry your stuff 150 yards.]

I often have 5-6 bottles, sometimes more - not for my own consumption! local booze is way too cheap to bring it from abroad! - as presents for people. Think "CANADA" and bring presents which are typically Canadian - whiskies, Canadian wines, etc?? This way it remains a present "from you", rather than just "well, I figured YOU were worth $11 on the scale so here are, errr... FOUR toblerones from Duty-Free. Sereja is only worth three toblerones....".

Fine-quality whiskies are outrageously expensive here, so if you are looking for a "treat", maybe something on those lines? Or cognacs, or liquers - same deal.

Escape from the "how much it cost" trap and try... a selection-pack of Canadian Beers! How much fun would THAT be to try!! You can conduct a tutored tasting!

Chocs - again, think LOCAL. Don't bring Belgian chocs, we can get those here anyhow :-)

Ummm, ILay will clip my ear for this, but... wrap-'em up nicely! This is half the fun, Russians LOVE deliciously-wrapped presents (especially girls) (and finding nice wrappings here is really hard, outside having the store wrap it for you). It "shows you care".

(off-topic ramble... one of the strangest contradictions in this country of dire design - just LOOK at those buildings, that shop-window! Eeeek! - is that Russians LOVE to display and present things beautifully. Even ILay will forgive me, if I now mention how stupendously-presented a banquet meal is in a restaurant here, how people LOVE to dress-up nicely. There is something very, errr, asiatic in all this (ouch, ILay's pulling my ear again...)

English-language books!! They are THREE TIMES the price here, and the choice is appalling. Contemporary novelists are much appreciated - Iris Murdoch has a following :-) Julian Barnes, Bill Bryson, you name it! Also think of stuff like Children's Books... I once brought back "Green Eggs & Ham" for someone's kids (in English) and since then, I get requests for The Cat In The Hat, The Cat In The Hat Comes Back etc etc every time I go back to London. A present for their kids will delight even more than one for themselves.

Pens. Not $0.50 ones, we've got those - but nice, trendy writing implements (in, of course, that all-important presentation box!)

Maple syrup!! Russians love blini's, and the combination would be deadly. Hard to find here, and very, very expensive. And also not the good stuff either.

The main story is - almost everything IS on sale here these days (except books), so it's not so much a question of bringing what's in dire need, but what would be a nice gift from Canada :-) If it ain't on sale here already, it's usually because it's not appreciated locally anyhow!

Dr W.
(who has a whole cabinet-full of exotic imported drinks brought-back, and is sitting drinking... Pepsi Light)

[glock_girl]

You sure there wasn't a touch of rum in that Pepsi Light Dr. Woland? Eh??? Hee hee

Kidding.

Thanks to you and Ilay, I have come up with some wonderful solutions then.
Maple Syrup I was thinking already anyhow. Maybe 5 quarts of it? ha ha
We have a local chocolate company here that makes the most tastiest chocolates - creams, caramels, fruits, truffles, etc. I already know that this one likes dark chocolate.
But you say they have Belgium chocolate? I wasn't sure because I didn't know if they had caramel chocolates, etc.

Great! I'll bring some whiskey then, some Molson Canadian, and definitely Carolan's Irish Cream. Oooh. Got a hankerin' for some now.

Books is a great idea because they are always found here so inexpensive.

I am glad you mentioned presentation.
I wasn't sure about that, because I thought if I wrapped it up customs might just unwrap it again. I like nicely presented things here. We have MANY Japanese people living here - and I've quite taken to their asthetically pleasing EVERYTHING!

Thanks a lot both of you! Canada party, eh Ilay?
Hee hee, somehow I envision us sitting around the TV eating salmon and watching hockey in our toques and lumberjack socks. Kidding, but I think it's a great idea. I know just what to cook

One last thing Dr. W...
you mentioned about the cash coming into Russia. I think I might be repeating something you already said, but what is the big concern? The amount?

Thank you guys!!

Amy

[Dr_Woland]

hiya

the main deal with cash, is their obsession (rightly) with "capital flight" from the country. They want to stop money leaving Russia.

So they want to know what you ARRIVED with, so that you ought to be LEAVING with less than that. And if you arrived with a helluva lot, who received it in Russia... and did they pay Tax on it?

The main scoop is that if you have $1500 or less on you in cash, and you expect what you LEAVE with to also be less than $1500, you can go straight the Green Channel on both arrival and departure, and all will be ease and comfort :-)

I did so myself just over a week ago, no problem at all :-)

And now I am going to bed!

Dr W.

[glock_girl]

Goodnight Dr. W and thanks for the tip. I will definitely be taking less than $1500 home. What if you are taking more than $1500 IN to Russia? Then do you have to declare it? Otherwise, I guess I'll just cruise through the green channel.

One last question -
What about hot sauces in Russia. Like the kind you get in the little bottles here. Do Russians like spicy food so much? Would it make a good gift?

Allright - see you on the board in the morning
I'm doing another night shift.

Amy

[Wendist]

Hello

I do not know how to put this without sounding to corny but I really enjoyed reading the posts above. They contain a lot of info abot Russia and the russians that probably would never have come up in any other topic.

Regards Thomas