[English] - Всем привет and welcome back to another Tip Thursday with me Conor Clyne this is
the Tsar Experience and greetings from a very chilly Minsk the capital of Belarus I'm
just here in the historical part of the city right in the city center it's
called Верхні Горад and in today's video I'm going to be going into
the five do's and don'ts for Belarusian etiquette the things that you
need to watch out for on a trip to Belarus let's get into the video
So every country has its superstitions right and Belarus is no different to
other countries and in the region there are different things that people believe
will happen that are based basically on belief not based on you know actual
evidence so I went and I looked up online for Belarusian superstitions
now of course I've only been in the country for a little while and I'm not
really sure if they're true so what I've decided to do is to bring on a Belarusian
friend and Dasha here she's gonna tell me whether it's really true
what I've read online or whether it's completely rubbish so the first one,
Dasha I think it's probably a very pertinent one for you as well and for
lots of ladies here in Belarus what I read is you're not allowed to sit on the
corner of a table otherwise you won't be able to get married for seven years
is that true because I put her on a round table yeah - that's weird
superstitions but yeah that's true that's actually true and all the people
do believe that if a young girl sit on the corner of the table she wouldn't get
married for the next seven years - seven years so it's just as well I put you
in a round table because then there's no problem
you look do you look for round tables or - actually I don't really believe in it
but sometimes when I sit in the corner I'm like ah maybe it's better to sit ...
- ... you see that right so she believes a little bit she believes a little bit
right so cool let's get on to the next the next do and don't for Belarus
One of the big dos for coming to Belarus is registration now if you come
on the visa-free program you get 30 days visa-free if you fly in in and out of
Minsk Airport but if you stay longer than five business days you have to
actually register with the police at a special immigration office now if you
fail to do that there is a fine not just for you but also for the person is
hosting you it happens to be like an apartment like an Airbnb apartment or
maybe you have a friend who so see you in Belarus and it's a monumental pain in
the ass basically you go there you waste several hours of your life pay them
about ten years twelve dollars but if you don't do that then they are gonna
fine you the fines actually pretty big can be up to around 500 euros that's
probably about five hundred fifty dollars in real 600 US dollars yeah it
also stops you being very flexible about your trip because maybe you came here
originally for five or six days you have to buy your insurance when you arrive on
the visa-free you can buy that in Minton Airport on the Left when you arrive at
the moment and it's not very expensive it's probably around the dollar or euro
a day but then if you want to extend like maybe didn't have a flight out of
the country when you arrived you decide hey I'm gonna stay actually more
than the five days I go register and maybe this you're gonna stay ten days
then you've got to go buy extra insurance and say you register and then you decide to
stay longer than you had on your registration yes you got to go back to
the office again re-register pay another 10 euros twelve dollars and yeah ...
putting your new address also if you change your address while you're here so
it's pretty onerous I really hope that the Belarusian government gets rid of
that requirement as soon as possible so that's something you really got to be
careful of and make sure you do because you don't want to get fined when you're
leaving the country
So another thing to be aware of that actually cussing or swearing is also
other finable offence here in Belarus if it's in public
- [Russian] Shit! Fuck you dickhead!
- [English] Now of course if you speak a language that the police or anyone here is not
going to understand then that's probably something you don't need to be concerned
about but definitely if you speak Russian obviously and you're going
around swearing just be aware that I looked up to find it it was like 50 US
dollars like 40 euros basically so something to remember when you're here that this
kind of is all not just frowned upon it's actually a punishable offence so
just try to keep your filthy mouth that dirty mouth of yours under control while
you're here in Minsk in Belarus
So I've just come out of the metro now this is
important because they've recently changed the law here in Belarus that you can
actually take photos inside there in the metro in Minsk
now previously that actually was illegal you weren't allowed to do that
and he need to be still careful if you're gonna take photos say at
governmental buildings or at the train station they're technically still places
where you're not allowed to film or take photographs now if you're there and
you're not you you're using your phone or something and it's really amateur
looking I think it's unlikely that a police officer is going to come over
you know fine you or give out to you or make about you delete the photos but if you do have
more professional equipment like maybe DSLR camera then it is still possible
that you will get questioned or something or maybe they will fine you
and make you delete your photos which would be unfortunate just be aware of
that I've actually never had a problem when I've filmed but here the Metro now
since the summer of 2018 is a place where you can film that's great so let's
go down and actually take a look in the metro, why not?
This is Zybitskaya and this is the main street in the center of Minsk
with lots of bars and nightlife so if you come here and you're
interested in having some fun some parties at the weekend then this is a
street you're definitely gonna visit now you do need to realize that even though
Belarusians are supposedly the people who consume the most alcohol per capita
in the world. I'm not entirely sure if that's true but that was a report from the
World Health Organization you cannot actually drink here on the street in
public that's actually something that you can get fined from so even though the
alcohol is free-flowing you might be having a you know wild party remember that
alcohol not on the street in the bars and clubs for sure also if you go to the
metro where I was earlier and you're inebriated like you're really drunk the
guards there who man the entrance to the metro can refuse you entry so just
bear all these things in mind that even though this is country that alcohol is
of course not frowned upon and it's very very common it can still cause some
problems for you if you're drunk in public and if you're drinking in public
So is your if your nose it's itchy what does that mean like you feel like
you want to scratch it - That you're gonna drink today
- But I think Belarusians drink everyday, right?
You're like the highest drinkers in Europe - No that's not true! - That's according to the World
Health Organization that's what I read Belarus number 1. You're number 1! - No, we used to be number 1.
- Who beat you? Who's number 1? I actually read that Ireland was like a
little bit lower down the list than I expected it to be
- Maybe Ireland, yeah. I don't know.
- Yeah we're really number one of course in drinking yeah
So that's the end of
today's video I hope you appreciate it if you're planning to come here to
Belarus then now you're gonna know the five things that you need to watch out
for and be very careful and aware of when you come to visit so that you don't
get in trouble maybe with the authorities and get fined or you don't
upset your new Belarusian friends if you enjoyed this video give it a big thumbs
up strike that like button and make sure that you're subscribed by squeezing that
red subscribe button and I gotta do this way what in the notification bell so
that you're notified when I'm uploading videos from not just here in Belarus but
also in other countries in the region like Ukraine I've done a lot of videos
there during the summer now you see the weather is completely different I'm
probably gonna go be going to Russia in the coming months so I know a lot of
you've asked for me to do more videos to do actually any videos from Russia
because I haven't filmed there yet and also there's a chance that I'll be coming to
the Baltics so I'm gonna go and try and warm up inside and yeah apply that good
Belarusian etiquette with maybe maybe a vodka or a wine or something like
that or at least a soup because yeah it's pretty pretty chilly
today see you guys and all your smiling enthusiastic faces for Eastern Europe in
the very next video! [Russian] Goodbye!