Hey folks! Thanks for all your welcome letters back home. It's nice to be here, even if my body is still on Moscow time. I've awakened at 3:30am EDT for the past two days in a row. : )

There are no pictures to go along with today's update, but as always you can order the videos by going to this address:
http://www.aaronlawrence.com/newfile...e/ordering.htm

Take care!

--Aaron


Day 7 - Intermission

June 6, 2001
11:21am
Somewhere between St. Petersburg and Moscow


I'm alive! We've checked out of our hotel and are on the way to Moscow. For a while there I thought we weren't going to make it. It looked like the front desk was mad at us, the restaurant was made at us, and the security guards were furious. The sheer number of condoms in our trash couldn't have impressed the cleaning staff either. We were in four-star hotel by St. Petersburg standards (not quite a 1970's Motel 6 room by American standards) and had been filming porn movies. We had boys walking in and out of our hotel the entire time we were there, including one soldier in full uniform. If that didn't look criminal, then I don't what did. Good thing the boys didn't look any younger. We might have had a visit from the local militia (police).

There isn't much to report right now, since I have only been awake for a few hours. So I thought I'd write to you a few thoughts on St. Petersburg, as well as a few stories I haven't included in these updates yet.

For starters, by American standards St. Petersburg is a city with a depressed economy that has been going on for years. There is significant construction going on in the more central parts of town, but much of the rest of the city (the majority, really) haven't been targeted yet. Much like the refurbishment of Times Square in New York City targeted zones for economic development in the hopes that the increased tourist trade would trickle down to the living standards for everyone. According to Maxim, the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg is in 2003. They hope to unveil the "new" St. Petersburg to the world's tourists then.

I certainly hope it goes well for them. I didn't have an opportunity to get to know the people well, and those that I did interact with were mostly the boys that I was filming; hardly a representative sample of the population. Maxim reminds me that even those boys were mostly from other areas and had come to St. Petersburg for either education, work, or the hope of a better life. Some seem to be finding what they are looking for, others are definitely struggling. They'll all at the very least "get by." I don't see any of the boys spiraling downwards in a circle of self-destructive behavior. In any case, the lower economy of the city defiantly contributes to the sex industry. Many of the boys I filmed would not have been in films if the money didn't go so far. A few would have, though. Alexi #2 was definitely enjoying himself for more reasons than just the money. : )

On the subject of the sex industry, I'm utterly amazed with what I have seen. The average St. Petersburgian (ha!) struggles on a daily basis for financial survival. Babushkas quietly beg for money while anyone with a car will double as an impromptu taxi for a few extra roubles. For the youth of the city it is even more difficult. Even if they manage to pay rent and buy food, they don't have money to spend on even simple luxuries as cigarettes, nice clothes, or social activities and vacations. Of course we know that smokers always manage to afford cigarettes, so that means they're skimping elsewhere on things they need even more in life.

Anyway, this lack of money for youth means that many boys, both gay and gay-for-pay, find the sex industry's monetary rewards appealing. Why work in McDonalds for $9 a day when you can earn $20, $30, $50, or even $100 in a single trick. In the case of videos, the money is even greater. I have to admit that it utterly amazed me. Beautiful boys who would cost $100 or $200 in the USA were available for 700 roubles, of which they made 500 roubles (about $16). Admitted, they don't have the same level of professionality as American escorts, but for a price like that you can afford some serious trial and error.

At the risk of sounding like a snooty Westerner, one of the other areas that the local youth often skimps on is in personal hygiene. Mostly deodorant, really. The boys almost without fail always needed a shower before they filmed, and a few of them still were a bit... ahh, well, scented anyway. The military boys in particular have a problem with this. They can't even afford basic purchases like candy or cigarettes, and so they completely skip on deodorant One shower isn't going to get over a year of skipping out on Right Guard. Wonderful country if you like your boys more "natural" though.

Don't think this means that this country is full of unwashed savages out of some sort of Hollywood movie. This is entirely untrue. The people would genuinely live up to much higher standards, but in many cases the economics don't allow for it. If your aging grandmother is out begging, would you rather buy candy and cigarettes, or send the occasional wad of cash back home? In any case, many of the boys were totally clean and very self-aware of hygiene. Maxim tells me a lot has to do with one's background, but you never can tell. Just like in America, sometimes you'll meet a totally professional businessman who (mistakenly!!!) thinks he doesn't need deodorant. (Message to the world: If you don't use deodorant, you probably need to. Thinking you don't need it is not an excuse - you probably don't realize that you do need it. Trust me on that one.)

Anyway, I hope that didn't come across as offensive, rude, or degrading. I was simply trying to write what I saw. God knows that Americans are overly into hygiene sometimes. Hence why our shampoo bottles always say wash your hair twice in the morning, and why we have a multi-billion dollar industry of seaweed-apricot facial scrubs and the like.

Back to the Russia and a few interesting stories...

...like fireworks. I'm not certain why, but in the middle of the day Timo, Maxim, and I suddenly saw fireworks being shot into the air above the city. At first we thought it was just a solitary firework or two, but then lots and lots started going into the air. I have no idea why this was going on. We attempted to film it, but wouldn't you know it, as soon as I got the video camera out the show stopped. Would have liked to capture it for you. How many of you can say you have seen fireworks during the day?

...and Alexi's note. After our first threeway with Anton, Alexi and I spent some time cuddling in the shower. He got out of the shower first, and when I turned off the water he was writing a message on the steamed-up mirror. He wrote "Ver Nice". He knew another letter went after the "r", but couldn't remember what it was. I wrote in the "y" and we both had good laugh. He pointed at the message, pointed at me, and said "very nice." He then gave me a long kiss. What an absolutely sweet person. I have met few like him in my travels before. I only wish I had been able to communicate with him more, but then again perhaps that was not necessary. He knows I felt the same way about him.

...the girl and the cats. When wandering around St. Petersburg during our grand tour of the center of the city, I saw a box sitting on the sidewalk filled with small kittens. Always a sucker for kitties, I kneeled down and began to take a picture of them. The view through the camera was suddenly blocked with by a rather dirty girl about ten years old. She stammered something in Russian that I didn't understand, but the meaning was obvious. Whatever reason the cats were out there for (to help in begging for money? to sell?), she wasn't going to have me taking a picture of them. I would have laughed by I was so startled. Here I was an adult tourist in another country, and I was being told off by a ten year-old girl. I was surprised to say the least. Anyway, hopefully she'll learn someday that begging is a lot easier if you get the person attached to the cats first. She'd have had a lot better chance of getting money out of me if I had taken a picture than by stopping me first.

...The long escalator. Probably due to product liability lawsuits, escalators in the United States are horribly slow. Not in Russia. Theirs run about twice as fast as American ones. My lover would have had a heart-attack on them. He always stops and steps super-cautiously onto escalators. In the St. Petersburg Metro stations he would have been trampled by the crowd for doing so. Not a city boy, definitely. Anyway, the escalators also went about twice as high as the tallest ones I have seen in the USA. I'd have filmed something on them, but Maxim tells me there are ones at least as big if not bigger in Moscow. It takes about a good two or three minutes to ride to the top.

I could go on and on with these stories, but the plane is about to land and I have to explore Moscow. More later!


June 7
1:46am

As Yakov Smirnov put it, "What a country!" Only I'm vastly impressed by Russia, Moscow in particular. The center of this town is beautiful and majestic in a way that American cities would be challenged to compare.

I'm getting ahead of myself. For starters, we arrived in Moscow and had to get to our hotel. That proved easy enough, with us taking a local bus and then a cab to the hotel. It took quite a while though, as road construction really slowed things down. On the way in Maxim pointed out a strip of highway where for miles on end working girls and their pimps would line the road at night. Would be quite a sight to see, but we were there at 1pm so we didn't see much.

We arrived at our hotel and checked-in. I had some problems with my credit card, as the fraud prevention unit had naturally shut down my card once I started using it in Russia. After checking into my room I called stateside and straightened it all out. It was a nice feeling to know that my card was back in working order.

Maxim wanted to get back to his home and take care of a few things, so Timo and I sent him on his way. We were tired and worn out from our exploits in St. Petersburg, and had decided to take it easy. We took a nap for a few hours, and when Maxim came back to the hotel we went out for the evening. First though we made a few phone calls and planned a few of our adventures for tomorrow. The primary one being an afternoon of filming porn in the home of a local escort agency owner. After our less than discreet exploits in St. Petersburg, we thought it would be best to keep a lower profile here in Moscow. Filming at his home is a great way to do just that. He said he can supply as many boys as we wanted to film, whether that be 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, or 30. Hope it goes well!

To be honest, I'm more than intrigued by the idea of working with him. He assured Maxim that his boys are more gay and less gay-for-pay. Not sure if he's telling the truth, as he is more than anxious for us to film his boys. He's interested in both the money and being able to watch a model being filmed. Maxim said he even briefly mused about being in the film, a suggestion that made Maxim cringe. Apparently the agency owner is, shall we say, not quite what I'm looking for in a model. Anyway, Timo hopes to film his final scene tomorrow with two of his guys, and I hope to film several scenes there. My goal is Moscow is to film 8 scenes. That'll give me 16 in total, which means will have four tapes out of this trip. In all honesty, I secretly hope to film an orgy on the final day using his boys. With the boss there and since they know each other, there is a fairly good chance that they'll have the sort of chemistry I need to film an orgy. That would be GREAT! I am very wary about biting off more than I can chew as I did in St. Petersburg on my final day, so I'll play this one by ear. First job? See how it goes tomorrow when I film models.

Back to my day. After we all took care of a few business matters, we headed out to diner. Maxim walked us through the town past a number of beautiful Orthodox cathedrals. I'm just absolutely in love with their architecture. I snapped a number of pictures and am sure I'll take plenty more during the trip. Didn't get much on my digital camera, since the dang batteries ran down. The little device eats them like candy!

We stopped for dinner at an Ukrainian restaurant. The food was good, and made all the enjoyable by a very tired young waitress. I didn't need to know Russian to know that she wasn't about to take any attitude that evening. It was rather amusing to see the fire in her eye. Fortunately we got in and out without having her dump a bowl of soup on our heads.

We then took a walk in the direction of Red Square. We thought we were in love with Moscow when we walked over a bridge and into a park (I don't know either of their names), but our breath completely left us when we got a look at the Kremlin. Pictures could not prepare us for the feeling and sight of the giant walls. St. Vasili's Cathedral (the really famous one with all the colored spires) was stunningly beautiful. The entire area just took our breath away. I hardly know what to say about it all. Except that you will see footage of the area on the videos. I hope that you can appreciate it as much as we did.

Incidentally, Maxim said there are two cruisy areas in tiny parks up against the Kremlin walls. We passed by one and sure enough, there were a number of single men sitting around by themselves. They couldn't have sex there as the parks weren't big enough, but there were the public restrooms nearby if they were so inclined. Others would probably meet someone there and go back to their place. We didn't see the other area, but Maxim said it was bigger.

We then walked above a several story underground mall. It was closed otherwise we'd have peeked in there. We walked around the city past the Bolshoy Theater where the Russian ballets are performed. I am not sure of the exact name of the Moscow company. And like some had told me, across the street was a rather cruisy park. I was sad to see that it had garbage and bottles strewn about it (several parks did, actually), although Maxim assured me that it was meticulously cleaned nightly by the city cleaning staff. The park was cruisy at times, but it was late enough at night (11:30pm) that many people had gone to Kitai Gorod, the bigger park, meeting ground, and cruising spot.

We walked in the direction of Kitai Gorod, but were distracted by two sights. The first was the offices of the former KGB. The large, conservative, and boring-looking building has certainly had an interesting change in its environment. Across the street is now a major hangout for drug dealers. Not quite the way things used to be, for sure.

I almost missed the second sight. It was along a small, winding road with a brick wall along one side. There was a break in the wall with an arched gateway with a metal gate across the way. Through the gateway there was a hall into a courtyard, probably of some old building or warehouse. It didn't look safe and frankly didn't interest me.

"This is it," Maxim hissed. I asked him what, and he said it was the military brothel. Inside the gate were living quarters for a group of young soldiers. I gather that as part of their being quartered there they provide a slight extra security for the building. I was surprised that he said there was a brothel in there. I knew it would be discrete, but I didn't realize it was that invisible. Maxim assured me it was the place, and said it was probably too early for it to be going. A soldier typically ran the gate after midnight or so.

We started to walk away but heard a sound behind us. Turning around we saw the gate suddenly close from an opened position. Someone had quietly entered the building behind us while we were not looking. Curious whether it was a client or a solider, I quietly walked across the street and backtracked. I looked through the gate and down the hallway, and saw a solitary figure standing in the moonlight about 50 feet away. It was an attractive young Russian soldier wearing a trenchcoat and a military hat. He looked at me and for a moment our eyes locked. We stared at each other for a moment, then I turned and walked away. I had seen what I was there to see. There were certainly soldiers in there. What they were doing (or willing to do) remained an adventure for another evening. We were all tired and needed our sleep. We'll be back though, and I will let you know what happens then.

I was so anxious, excited, tense, and nervous after the encounter that I no longer had a wish to see Kitai Gorod. I wanted to go home and to sit and think about the evening. I now have a quest for myself: to get inside and film one of those military boys. I want to film the outside of the building as well, although that will have to be done at a different time. Unlike the brothels in Amsterdam, this place thrives on discretion and privacy. They would not take kindly to an American tourist interfering with their cleverly-built arrangements.

We did see Kitai Gorod anyway. A corner of it, that is. Maxim pointed it around the next corner, and then we hailed a taxi to go home. Our evening was at an end. Returning back to the hotel, Timo settled in and went to bed, while I took care of a few things online. I then sat down to write this update, and thus here I am.

So where am I? I have completed two videos in St. Petersburg and hope to film two more videos (8 scenes) in Moscow. I would also like to film an orgy video on my final day, but won't know until at least tomorrow if that is practical. Timo hopes to film one more sex scene here in Moscow as well.

In the morning? Maxim comes over at 11:30 to meet us. We're meeting the agency owner at noon and will hopefully spend much of the day filming scenes. I'm not sure what we will do with the evening. Probably not visit the barracks again - we'll save that for another day. I also hope to set up arrangements with several other boys that I would like to film. And finally, I want to meet up with Nikita, the Moscow editor of www.gay.ru. He helped me plan this trip to Russia, and I really want to meet him and thank him for his assistance.

Take care,

--Aaron

PS, No sign of Russian mafia types after us! We're 99.9% sure that the note was sent by one of our models from St. Petersburg, and we're convinced we know who that model is. I received over 50 messages from y'all giving me advice ranging from "Go underground for the rest of the trip, change your flight times, ditch all the evidence you filmed in Russia, and flee back home" to "Tell them that Americans own the Internet and we're not going to take their bullying crap." Our solution? We're proceeding full-speed, but are doing it with more advanced thought and discretion, and are delaying the mailing of the updates until I return home as an extra precaution. The videos will continue!

PPS, No pictures today. I was busy filming Red Square and forgot to take pictures with my digital camera. Oops!