Oh Man, I have terrible tooth pain since more than 2 weeks. Turns out I have some problem with my nose and that affects many of my teeth on the right side. You see how complex the human body can be. Anyways, I need to go see my dentist more often now. I once had a dental emergency more than a year ago and I went to the closest Masterdent on Leninsky Prospect. Masterdent is a chain of dentists in Moscow. Some say they don’t have a good service or their doctors are not good, but I am quiet happy with mine.
That office at Leninsky didn’t have time for me that day, so they sent me to another, which is more distant from the centre, but it was said to be cheaper and they’d have time for me and my emergency. So we drove out there. Its about 30-45 minutes by car, depending on traffic. The doctor is very good (I went to a German doctor to have it checked after ;-) and although she only speaks a few words of English I ever since go out there when I need anything done with my teeth. I even prefer the Russian dentist over the German doctors now. They take so much more time there and focus on details. Ha ha, my girlfriend thinks I want to go there, because I like the dentist. She is very young you know. But the truth is that my doctor is just good, detailed and 50% cheaper than a German. I guess even cheaper than other dentists in the centre.
Last weekend I have been at my dentist again. I needed to go through a painful 2 hour root canal treatment. When done, I walked back to the subway and I took some photos. Moscow is said to have anywhere between 11 – 15 million registered citizens. I think there are probably much more, which are illegally here. By the way, not only foreigners need registration papers, also Russians from the regions need a “permissionâ€? to live in Moscow. Already about 10% of Russia’s population lives in Moscow and the government is trying to avoid a growth explosion of the city. Just imagine, New York has 8 million citizens, so has Austria. Norway even only 3 million. Of course there are cities with more people, like Mexico city or Shanghai, but still I think its a lot and I thnk its the largest city in Europe, isn’t it?
Most of these people don’t live in the expensive centre, where you nowadays pay rents up to $10.000 and more. Alright, I’d say $1500 is the minimum for a 2-3 bedroom in the centre. Moscovites benefit from the fact, that they have received their apartments from the government after the Soviet Union broke down. Most of the Moscovite families own between 1-5 apartments and so the families don’t pay rent. You are unfortunate, if you come from the outside and you can only live in the projects of the suburbs or in some little cities close to Moscow, which means a 2 hour ride to work on the Electro, a sub-urban train, every morning and evening.
These photos were taken nearby my dentists office, close to Metro station Rossoshanskaya and Tyoply Stan. This is how all Moscow looks like a 30-45 min metro ride outbound the cities centre and this is where most of the people live here. Most of these buildings are run down from the outside, but the people try to make it nice and cozy on the inside. I have been for visits a few times and will try to make some photos on the inside for you next time.
