On Khreshchatyk there are people carrying birds of prey, and monkeys. As you walk down the street they catcall at you and try to get you to pose for photos with these animals. Some can be quite persistent. Of course, you say ‘no thank you’ firmly, put your head down and keep walking.
The monkeys looked pretty cute though.
Khreshchatyk is a street for hustling, and so it’s not at all incongruous that it has become renowned as the premier daygame street in the Ukrainian capital. Not only is it the most populous street, but also, since everyone else seems to be on the make here, why not daygamers?
Aside from the animal rights worriers, you will also find moody Crimean guys hawking goes on one of those machines where you punch a ball to prove your strength, as well as a climbing frame and a coconut shy.
And there are old gypsy women with gold teeth who come up to you asking for money, and then, once you’ve given them some, they keep following you for blocks asking for even more.
There are guys with missing limbs waiting by the subway, asking for money. There are drug addicts hanging round outside hookah bars asking for money. There are old women falling asleep behind makeshift stall selling unidentifiable objects (walnuts and some sort of fish?), asking for money.
There are dodgy-looking dudes, likely Turkish, hanging around in grey and brown leather jackets, who seem to have some hustle of their own going on. I observed one chap approaching various girls throughout the afternoon, apparently trying to make some kind of deal . . . and he certainly wasn’t following the London Daygame Model.
I also noted a very attractive-looking girl in a leather mini-skirt sitting in the window at McDonalds being pawed at by an overzealous older gentleman who tried to engage her in conversation for twenty minutes or so before finally giving up and sloping off to his friend.
As soon as he’d left the scene he was replaced by a tough-looking young Ukrainian guy who chatted with the pretty young girl for a while before they left together. They clearly knew one another—whether he was her pimp or not I couldn’t say.
The point is that all human life is to be found on Khreshchatyk—as well as a constant stream of very hot girls. For that, it is a location to be treasured, by players and by disreputable travellers of all stripes.
And given that the daygamer is probably the only hustler on the strip not asking for money, perhaps he is a welcome relief.
More tomorrow.
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„And given that the daygamer is probably the only hustler on the strip not asking for money, perhaps he is a welcome relief.“
Great ending/twist within a great storytelling – keep it up!