This place looks amazing. I arrive in Moscow to -7 degrees celclious.

After I got through immigration I didn't have a clue where I was going. I was bombarded with taxi touts asking me for my business, however I wanted to make my own way to my hostel. After 10 minuits pondering, I gave in and got a taxi to my hostel. It was getting dark and the public transport looks impossible at the moment to desipher. It's all wriiten in cryllic alphabet which I havn't got a clue about.

It took an hour to get to the hostel via taxi, which cost 50pound (ripped off). I checked in and immediately met someone (Jamie) who was on my tour to Beiging.

THE SCARY PART!!

We were walking toward the Red square. This smart looking guy in front of me dropped a wad of US Dollars on the floor. It was in some sort of transparent wallet. I called him back but as I was doing that another guy came out of nowhere and picked it up but also called the guy back. He eventually turned around and the other guy gave it back to him. He seemed to be speaking French. He thanked us and started walking away- HOWEVER, the guy who returned the wallet started to talk to me saying how much money there was. All of a sudden the first guy comes running back (I thought he was thanking us again and was going to offer us money) but he started shouting saying he dropped two wads of cash and that we had stole the other one.

I was shocked. Then a 'plain clothed policeman' came over to us and flashed a police badge. I was relieved to see the policeman as I thought he could sort this mess out, because it was getting a bit hostile.

The police officer demanded to see our passports which I was going to hand over but Jamie said not to do it as it was a scam! It got a bit more hostile with all of them shouting. The 'ploiceman' was a big guy! Jamie walked off and told me to follw...I did and they were calling us back. We went across the road and that was that!

This is a well known scam which I was so nearly a victim of. It all seemed so real and I didn't know what to do. Im glad I wasn't on my own. They work together in order to get tourists passports, then they hold it to ransom for ridiculous prices. I had my credit card and debit card all on me, so who knows what would have happened. I have learnt to keep my wits about me much more and not to trust many people that you don't know.