The famous "Uncle Pasha", the owner of several Russian travel sites, occasionally puts on the driver's hat on as a soul-building exercise in humility.
Slightly 
November 26, 2007
(The image has been slightly stretched to make it look more suited to
transport important people like you.)
Lyagushka is picking up oats I spilled
in the trunk. See
www.russian-horse-rides.com and/or
www.staritsa.info/staritsa.htm
Pasha's "new"
car
(the old Renault is still around as a backup for additional
reliability and uninterrupted service)
1994 Volga
This late 30s German motor is still manufactured in Russia.
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Comfortably takes 4 passengers
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Roof rack for your suitcases.
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Cruising speed of 80-90km/hour, thus no temptation to expose your health and life to risk by driving fast.
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Particularly suitable for long-distance travel: can burn low-grade gasoline available anywhere, extensive parts supply and service network, easily repaired in any small-town garage.
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220 Volts on-board electrical supply system to recharge cell phones etc.
Courtesy mobile phone. Free of charge except MAJOR amounts of air time.
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Professionally serviced on regular basis, no less than once a month.
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Humble and unassuming in appearance, which means fewer annoying stops by the police and no interest from from criminals. Immune to theft and break-ins.
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The car is a good choice for authenticity enthusiasts. Some quirks of design, eg. a temperature indicator that goes **down** instead of up, or rear window defroster that works full strength when the knob is pulled one half out, and half-strength when it is all the way out, make it a distinctly Russian piece of industrial output.
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Pasha's car shares the engine and drive train with this UAZ military jeep
developed in the 50s.
The
driver does not smoke, and passengers are strongly discouraged under the
threat of having the cost of a box of headache pills added to their bill. The result is
that the the car
doesn't have that characteristic "Russian" odour.
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Errands big and small, virtual office, business services from Pasha |
Please note his pet project:
Horseback rides and trips in the rolling hills over the Volga river near Staritsa, Tver region, between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Pasha's "dacha", www.russian-horse-rides.com. Only $30/day for food, shelter, and unlimited horse rides
Another project with which i may get involved quite deeply is www.marisha.net in Moldova. Depends a lot of how she receives me in February or March or whenever I rent out my Moscow apartment for a considerable length of time. Most of my Moscow services will remain active with the help of my associates, eg. Olesya or Maria/Masha (temporary housed at www.cheap-moscow.com/masha.com )
Examples and prices of long trips outside of Moscow
Suzdal. Out early in the morning, back real late same day, or next day. $250-300.
Sergiev Posad. Out fairly early in the morning, back in the evening of the same day. $160-200
Golden Ring (Sergiev Posad, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Kostroma, Yaroslavl.. and of course Suzdal and Vladimir). The "natural" time for this one is 3 days. $600.
St. Petersburg to Moscow. 4-7 days, of small town and villages. $800-1000.
Although estimates are based on a $25/hour rate, they usually agree with 50 cents/km (70 cents/mile) rate. Just want to give you an idea of how much my services may cost.
When assessing the total cost remember to take into consideration that with me you'll probably spend less on food and accommodation. Also ask about my "stay out of trouble" guarantee.
Rates are based at $25/hour, min. 3 hours. If I need to travel to meet you, my usual practice is to bill you for half of my travel time. Eg. if you are 2 hours away, I will include these 2 hours into the invoice, but not the time it would take me to get back.
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Contact me for a full-cycle service:
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Client feedback
Lots of it is scattered around his rat-nest of sites. You may want to start with the Business Services section of www.unclepasha.com. Also check out his guestbook at www.unclepasha.com/guestbook.htm. Some somehow ended up on Olesya's site www.russiangirlfriday.com.
The best place to post new feedback is www.unclepasha.com/guestbook.htm
Most common complaints:
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Slow. His cruising speed is 55-60 miles per hour (85-95km/hour). Except for a dire emergency he will not drive on the shoulder of the road or take the opposite lane the way most Russian drivers do. Only ONCE has he been known to rush to the airport at 130km/hour (about 80 miles per hour) when he mistakenly took a client almost all the way to Domodedovo instead of Sheremetyevo.
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Takes advantage of his captive audience to sell his services that include such despicable offers as Rat Rental or Russian Misery Tourism(c).
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Unsolicited advice, usually negative, and explanations why **your** project will not work, illustrated with real-life examples and stories. Several complaints about his negativism are in the GUESTBOOK
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"Philosophical speculations". One complaints to that effect was recently added to the GUESTBOOK. Mind you, in was from a British gent + Russian provincial woman of the "last chance" age, and these are unhappy by definition.
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His car is dirty and cluttered. No one has yet expressed it in writing but you should know that I DO NOT TAKE PRIDE IN MY VEHICLE'S LOOKS. In fact, its run-down appearance is part part of my stay-out-of-trouble strategy that has so far worked well. Will you believe that in 12 years in Russia my car was broken into only twice? On average I am stopped for an annoying document check only once every 500-1000km!
And a few good things:
- Slow and safe. Imprinted with Canadian approach to traffic safety. Accident free driving since 1981, when he got his license.
- Long distances no problem. Keeps a toothbrush, half a dozen socks and a change of underwear in the car, and will travel on a moment's notice anywhere you will pay him to go.
- A convinced pedestrian when not driving his clients around, and thoroughly knows the public transit system. Unlike most Moscow drivers, who hold public transit in contempt, he will be easily able to switch to Moscow's excellent Metro if traffic comes to a standstill. Thanks to that knowledge and flexibility a few of his clients made it to important meetings or to the airport while the traffic was standing for hours.
- Able to assist you with a variety of tasks, from buying tickets to assessing the feasibility of your business plans to setting up appointment with hard-to-access people to acting as a top-notch technical interpreter.
- The Russian-made Volga car was designed for mid-level bureaucrats in the 60s. Spacious, safe, and in top mechanical condition. These cars are the choice of older conservative people and are thus rarely stopped by the police - something that will be appreciated by experienced Russian travellers who know how annoying these document checks can be. Volga cars are also among the LEAST popular among thieves and can be left by the curbside just about anywhere with your luggage in them.
- Regularly thanked by clients for providing an "insight" into how things work in Russia.
From my Guestbook:
This somewhat incoherent comment was posted on my BBS by a Russian friend of a British gentleman who hired me to take me to a town 300-something kilometers from Moscow.
Russian hospitality in its real action!
Posted on October 13, 2004 at 11:33:23 AM by Natasha
I would like to express my eternal gratitude for the service and ultimate hospitality provided for my friend, John Russell!
First of all, dear uncle Pasha, it is a bit strange not to fulfil all the arrangements with Mr. Russell having charged the same fee for the matter. I also wonder how it can be possible to cover 300 km in 10 hours instead of usual 4? Besides, you charged 3 times as much as the usual fee for a car, not a shabby chariot you provided.
You don't have to deal with the things you have no clue about, do you? Please, believe me, your philosophical speculations over the fish during 45 minutes do not meet any others' interests, but yours.
It is not so pleasant to realise you cheat foreigners out of their money providing service that cannot even be compared to something worse.
Your "Olesya-the-errand-girl" is next best to you in her ways of doing things. If she were given a chance to make money selling foreighers "real Russian air to breath" she would not miss her chance. Could she consider making discounts as a compensation for that perfect service your "Co." provided? She was not shy to take some currency for delivering jacket to Domodedovo, and of course some doubtful trip expenses that cost 200 roubles more. Жадность фраера погубит.
I assume this world should know more about you.
Sincerely,
N.
OK, this one does mention my driving skills so let's add it...
Posted on October 29, 2004 at 02:59:20 PM by Thomas Mitchell
After a wonderful visit to Moscow, I wanted to thank Pasha for his assistance, reason, and amusing character. Though I did not get to take advantage of rat rentals or the contract murder, I was pleased with his ironic wit, cleverness, and informative perception of Moscow's seedy underbelly...and his driving skills. I'd recommend the pleasure of his company to anyone who visits. Pasha, why not publish an anecdotal account of your more interesting clients and the off duty gang at the horse farm? Your turn of phrase was rife with imagery. Best of luck to you and Olesya! Photos of my cats to follow.
Tom, glassy eyed passenger
Posted on December 27, 2004 at 08:41:16 AM by Richard
What can I say, if you are stuck !! as I was and need to have someone reliable do what they say they are gonna do, you cannot go wrong by using the services of Paul (Uncle Pasha) I was promised a taxi collection from a company who will remain anonymous after coming back from Odessa. 3 hours later no taxi,no one answering the phones and mobile switched off. Feeling very annoyed, because I was getting loads of hassle from Taxi drivers. In desperation I telephoned uncle Pasha who realised my plight and came to my rescue, successfully delivering me to my Hotel. The moral of the story is, use people who do what they say they are going to do. I will not use this other company again. But will now use Uncle Pasha when I return in March. Sterling work Paul!!
From my mailbox:
Greetings!!!
I am an American citizen, a journalist, and am disabled (blind). Recently, I made my first foray to Russia in order to meet in person and marry the woman of my dreams. The immensity of my trip to Siberia with my K-9 assistant was somewhat intimidating, to say the least, as it included a 10-hour layover in the city of Moscow.
I found Paul (Pasha) Voytinsky and Olesya Pamazan on the internet and retained them to help me with airport transfers (Pasha) and to provide a place to relax and have a bite to eat (Olesya) during my layover in Moscow, before venturing to my final destination, the city of Tomsk, Siberia.
I heartily recommend Pasha and Olesya to anyone planning to venture to Russia (Moscow) that is in need of such services, and particularly to anyone that may be disabled. In spite of a mix-up in communications that was my blame, Paul mananged to get me to my flight on time for departure, requiring a Herculean effort on his part, in fighting Friday evening rush hour traffic in Moscow. He and Olesya both speak excellent English and they made my Moscow visit a memorable and worthwhile experience, I will always treasure.
Thank you Pasha and Olesya, for your excellent care and service. I am very grateful that the great amount of trust I placed in both of you was completely well founded. Please know that I will continue to use your services for future trips to Russia with out any reservation and/or hesitation.
Sincerely yours,
S.G. James Wulf, Esq.
Alaska, USA
