"The Kingdom of"/ Part Five: Kiev

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Blog of Gregory Shukhman

"The Kingdom of"- part four

By Gregory Shukhman

Part Five: Kiev

By that time, Bon-Bon World was involved in international trading: we specialized in heavy machinery sales, dealing with the post-Soviet countries of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Moldova, where we had good contacts.
When Mikhail called me, he offered to bring me into a joint venture in Cambodia, within the agricultural products sector, dealing with items such as rubber, timber, rice and fish. He hinted at the possibility of prices that were discounted approximately 40% from the global market prices, given sufficiently large volume. He was concerned about his company’s ability to locate money without delay in order to carry out what sounded to me like a great deal. My banking and customer service relations were great, so I didn’t think I would have any trouble getting the kind of money he needed in order to do this business.
I gladly accepted Mikhail’s invitation, and not for reasons of financial opportunity only. I knew about Cambodia from my days of living in the Soviet Union, and I was excited by the idea of going there. The Soviets had close political and economic ties with Cambodia. Back in the mid-80’s, some of my college friends were assigned to work there. I was thrilled to hear their dramatic and colorful stories about life in that exotic place. Besides that, I had to deal with countless aerial photos for surveying minerals in Cambodia when I worked as a student at the Research Institute of Geodesy and Cartography in Kiev, Ukraine. It seems that our institute was directly involved in secret research connected with promising prospects for mineral development in Cambodia.
For me, the word Cambodia, has randomly, directly or indirectly, but repeatedly, crossed my path, so when I got that phone call from Mikhail, my feeling was this was nothing less than an inevitable event in my life, something that had the force and feeling of my spiritual destiny. I agreed to meet with Mikhail and his partners on May 23, 2006 in Kiev to discuss in detail the future of our joint venture.
I should have perhaps been more cautious about getting involved in a complex business deal with a country famous for governmental corruption, high rates of diseases, narco-trafficking and other crimes, but nothing could dampen my enthusiasm. I brushed aside questions and warnings from my friends and family members.
On May 23, I arrived as planned in Kiev to meet with Mikhail and Igor, who explained the details of their plans in Cambodia. In addition to mining precious metals, they intended to work with the Cambodian government on projects to discharge land mines and to establish a political infrastructure between Cambodia and Ukraine. They told that they wanted to get my U.S. company to support their efforts to overcome political opposition and to achieve their goals.
I felt their plans were reasonable and acceptable. They then arranged for me to visit with Vadim Rabinovich when he returned with his family from a visit to Israel. We agreed to travel together to Cambodia on May 30.
Kiev was especially beautiful at that time of the year, full of welcoming smiles, majestic ancient architecture, flowering chestnut trees and an endless stream of beautiful women. I was grateful to recognize all these familiar and irreplaceable attributes of my native city, but I admit to being taken aback by all the new construction and the rapid rhythm of life in the Kiev of today. There were moments where I could barely recognize the place where I was born and raised.
My stay at the Premier Palace Hotel was very pleasant and comfortable. Even the Lenin monument I saw through the window every morning failed to scare me anymore, and just brought back good memories from my childhood.
My week in Kiev sped by. I never have enough time when I’m there to do everything I want to do. There were business meetings, visits with friends, and a visit to the cemetery to pay my respects to my grandparents.
On the morning of the 30th, Mikhail came to meet me downstairs to bring me to the airport. While I checked out, we flirted with a beautiful girl at the concierge desk. She asked me how I enjoyed my stay, and told me I was always welcome. "When are you coming back?" she asked. I told her that my next visit will be "for you only." We all smiled. As I saw her blush, I thought for a moment about how time flies. Oh, to be young again!
When we got to the car, I got in the front seat, and Mikhail sat with his friend Alex in the back. Alex, whom I had met before, lives in Boston and owns one of the most prestigious restaurants there.
As we crossed the Dnieper river on the way to the Borispol airport, I turned back to my friends. Through the back window, the shining golden domes of Kiev’s Pechersk Lavra and Saint Sophia Cathedral, smiled at me.
Mikhail’s Mercedes was rolling fast, taking me further and further away from the city where my parents were born and where as children they survived the grueling ordeal of World War II, a war that took the lives of their fathers and relatives, a disaster that took away their childhoods. This was the city where I was born, where I passed my childhood and adolescent years; where I finished school, passed through the army, studied at the Institute; where I married, where my daughter was born. This was my city, my Kiev.
All these memories were now buried deep in the past. With the passage of time, the city that was my mother had eventually become a stranger.
When our car went arrived at the airport, Mikhail reminded the chauffeur to go to Terminal "C", which is the VIP’S sector. Terminal "C" was nice and roomy, with just a few departing passengers. The waiting lounge staff took charge of our passports, tickets and luggage, and we were invited to come to the bar, where we saw Wladimir Klitchko. Mikhail knew him, so they started to talk. Mikhail congratulated him on a beautiful recent victory: on April 22, Klitchko had defeated Chris Byrd by technical knockout in the 7th round. It was great fun to talk and drink with the famous boxer before out flight. Klitchko’s flight to New York departed at almost the same time as our flight to Bangkok. As we all left the bar, we wished each other good luck and success in sports and business.
We took our seats in business class. After a brief presentation on safety rules, the plane started down the runway and we were soon in the sky on the way to Bangkok.
We had great time sharing funny stories on the flight. Alex had plenty of anecdotes about his restaurant business. He was in an expansive mood and spoke in a loud, cheerful voice. With one story, he had the whole plane laughing hysterically. Once, on New Year’s eve, he had hosted a traditional Russian party, with a variety of shows, at his restaurant. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts mandates a 2:00 a.m. closing time for restaurants, but New Year’s is very serious business for the Russian community in Boston, so nobody wanted to go home. Somebody in the neighborhood must have complained about the noise. Suddenly, about 4:00 a.m., a whole squadron of police in riot gear entered the restaurant and turned the lights on. By then, the guests were in "perfect Russian condition," i.e., totally inebriated and cheerful. No one wanted to believe this was the real police. Everyone thought this was part of the show, and the police were met with raucous cheers and great applause. The police realized what was happened, and of course they smiled, but they could not hold back because the law is the law. Even as everyone was being ushered out and the police wrote up the violation notice, the guests refused to believe this raid was really happening. On New Year’s, I guess, everyone expects miracles. Anyway, Alex had the whole plane in stitches with this story.
The stories continued for a while, but my fatigue prevented me from hearing any more. I woke up to the sound of a familiar voice: "Good morning, passengers. This is your captain speaking. First, I'd like to welcome everyone on Aerosvit Airlines Flight 171. We are currently cruising at an altitude of 33, 000 feet, at an air speed of 400 miles per hour. The time is 1:25 a.m.. The weather looks good, and with the tailwind on our side, we are expecting to land at the Bangkok - Suvarnabhumi International Airport approximately fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. The weather in Bangkok is clear, with a temperature of 27 degrees Celsius, which is a little warm for this time of night. If the weather cooperates, we should get a great view of the night city as we descend. The cabin crew will be coming around in about twenty minutes to offer you a light snack and beverage, and the in-flight movie will begin shortly after that. I'll talk to you again before we reach our destination. Until then, sit back, relax and enjoy the rest of the flight."

At the Bangkok International Airport we didn’t feel at night with the number of domestic and international carriers and their passengers. We had check status on our connected flight and the luggage situation to Phnom Penh with Tai Airline, Mikhail was a little bit concern with the two cases of Hetman vodka, hope not to be broken, and we realized that a little less than four hours time to wait, so we were agreed to seat and rest in some restaurant near to the assigned gate instead of going anywhere, to secure our on time departure.
On the way to a restaurant Alex had met some of his new friends from the previous plane, two Ukranian beauties, who also happened have a connection flight to Kuala Lumpur and they were agreeing to join us at one of the airport restaurants.
Our interlocutors were nice and funny girls in their mid twentieth, so the conversation, at the restaurant, was pleasant and lively, we have a lot of joking, some light arguing over some specific issues like life and love, laughing and as well an opportunity to use my laptop and having the Internet connection, gripped out our four hours waiting time, which flew in a flash.
Gallina and Natalia, our new friends, supposed to wait one more hour for their flight to Malaysia and we had to regrettably leave them, as we heard a final boarding announcement to proceed to the gate immediately, we wished each other all the best and move fast to our gate.
Looks like we were the last passengers as the plane was waiting, and we heard that the main door was closed instantly after we were lead to our seats
Promptly, in a moment, our plane was airborne for our final destination, to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
It was quick flight just about of 1:15 min., we were landing at the Phnom Penh International Airport.
When the plane’s door had opened for a passenger exit, at the ramp, you would see, an unforgettable picture which caught my eyes, and commemorate me to the best of Hollywood tradition’s movie, where one short, middle-aged plump man of Asian appearance Mafioso who was just missed on The Estouro Nevada cowboy hat and the Cuban W. Churchill Cigar, and behind him stood two tall and young, wearing a sunglasses’ athletic’s builds bodyguards, and one of them had a short blond hair, and the second one had a long dark-brown hair, reminding the KGB agents at their communist era, while that chubby man, was wide smiling and waiving with his hand, his two companions were standing straight, right behind him, with no emotions, keeping their hands behind the back. This picture made me smile as I saw that small bun rolled into arms of Mikhail saying "Hello our dear friend" and Mikhail had introduced to us, it was a Minister Bunnaroeun An.

Part six: Brothers
To be continued: