This post really is only for someone visiting Belarus, I gave up trying to make it an interesting read before I got to the potential that is the hooker section. All information correct as at January 2018.
Money – Language – Using your overseas mobile – Solo female traveller – Toilets
Money
BYN is the New Belarusian Ruble (ruble), which came into circulation on 1st July 2016, replacing the BYR (Belarusian Ruble) by knocking two zeros off. At the time of my visit (January 2018), the exchange rate was GBP 1 = BYN 2.75.
Withdrawing cash from an airport ATM, I took out 200 BYN, which came in 5s and 10s. However, ruble notes come in 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 rubles with eight denominations of coins, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 kopecks, and 1 and 2 rubles.
You cannot buy BYN outside Belarus. The BYN 200 was for two of us (my partner was there for work so only a few meals and coffees were bought with cash between the two of us, ie most of the cash was just for me). I would start with BYN 140 (<£40) for a future trip on my own, again using a mix of cash and card payments.
Using cards v cash
At a guess, 50% of my purchases were made with a card, which suits me because I have a credit card that doesn’t charge for overseas transactions. As a general rule, bigger shops and restaurants take cards, smaller ones and, kind of obviously, markets only accept cash.
Making contactless card payments is always followed by a request to insert your PIN.
Language
How widely is English spoken?
I did not expect most people in shops and restaurants to speak English but I always found someone who could, mainly people aged around 50 and younger. Sometimes, it didn’t matter that there was no common language, particularly as people seemed happy to help in whatever way possible.
The lack of English speaking is not a barrier to getting by in Minsk, which I reiterate is in part because people seemed genuinely willing and happy to help even without a common language or just a smattering of English. I even managed one exchange in basic German (his and mine).
In Polotsk, on which basis I am veering towards making a sweeping generalisation of “everywhere but Minsk”, no one I encountered around town (cafe and two shops, a mere four people in total, ie a very limited, inadequately researched cross-section) spoke any English. In a cafe, Google Translate was used, to much giggling from the three of us at some of the strange suggested questions/answers/words it came up with. It worked though, I had a coffee BEFORE my lunch and then a delicious bowl of hot dumplings with sour cream and cheese … it was well worth the Google Translate confusion and the extra ten minutes it took to make my order.
Reading/Cyrillic
Way more than spoken English, this was a bit of a problem. Most restaurants do not have a menu in English and menus without pictures in languages you can’t read is very frustrating. Obviously. I hadn’t registered that places I wanted to go to, eg “My English Granny”, a café, would actually have the name in Cyrillic outside and read as “Maya Angliskaya Babushka”. Ok, so that would be an easy one to work out if you’d been able to read the Cyrillic, but you get the idea, that reading Cyrillic only overcomes the first hurdle because if you don’t know what somewhere is called in Russian/Belarusian, ie just knowing the English translation, you’re none the wiser for being able to read it. If that is as confusing as it might sound, the chances are you’ll have a moment of clarity about this issue while you’re in Minsk trying to find somewhere you particularly want to go.
I would definitely learn, or at least have a print-out of, the Cyrillic alphabet for a repeat visit. In my defence for not having done so, it was a last minute decision to join my partner for this trip.
Street names, road signs, shop signs, etc, are written in Cyrillic. This is not surprising but it does make navigating a bit harder (actually, a lot harder) if you can’t read the signs.
I also reiterate that Belarusian and Russian are a bit different so some street names are translated into English script with different spellings, eg Ys instead of Is.
Using your 0verseas mobile
If you are data roaming, be aware there appears to be no 4G and your data service is likely to be patchy and unreliable.
WiFi is fairly common in cafes and restaurants, though I had varying degrees of success waiting for the provider to text me the required WiFi access code where in-house WiFi wasn’t available.
Solo female traveller
Although I travelled with my partner and was lucky enough to spend a bit of time with some of his colleagues, most of whom were Belarusians, during the day for three days I was on my own. I never felt threatened or unsafe, even in the Metro stations and markets. I felt comfortable and safe, though bear in mind I was only ever in fairly central/busy areas, and would have no reservations about recommending Minsk as a city for solo female travellers. I was never alone at night time, but in the city centre there were always a lot of people around so I doubt I would have been fazed walking around until maybe 11pm.
Many hotels have “women of the night” on, erm, standby. I was warned that walking into/out of or around a hotel on your own, particularly at night, might elicit some questions from hotel staff or men. I noticed the women, though I suspect I may have attributed a few risqué outfits to women at work rather than at leisure. Fashions are different all over the world, particularly for young people. I digress. I was a few times clad entirely in sensible snow trousers and coat as I entered or left the hotel. I expect I stood out as a tourist rather than a niche hooker and I was never inappropriately propositioned.
Toilets
Yes, I have reached an age where I like to know how easy it is to find toilets, something I find is lacking in guide books! All toilets I used were clean and as you’d hope from a toilet. There were a few occasions where I needed to use the loo paper I’d been advised to carry with me. In some buildings, you need to pay a very small amount to use the toilets. Cafes, restaurants, department stores; there are toilets everywhere you’d expect them in the UK.