Night life in Grozny starts to swing again

What is usual for any city dweller is only just picking up again in Grozny. The Chechen capital is well on its way to recovery from the fighting of the nineteen nineties.

Every night  Aslanbek Alyev goes bowling at his club. The prices there range from around $US 20 to $US 30 and there are only two lanes, so you have to wait. That doesn't worry Aslanbek.

“I feel absolutely free here,” Aslanbek notes.

This is the only bowling club in Grozny at the moment, but for those who enjoy fresh air there are several other possibilities: children prefer roller-blading, adults – dinner at an open-air cafe.

Chechen girls who like to go out need to be accompanied by a male relative – it's a tradition in the Muslim republic.

Grozny's team of the well-known Russian TV show  “The Cheerful and Quick-Wit Club” – prefer gathering in the evening.

“It's become quite convenient recently to stay up late. We are creative people and sometimes our creativity unlocks late at night,” Grozny resident Arbi Nusagaev says.

The capital’s open roads are also tempting the citiy's bikers back out at night. There are only about 100 of them in the whole of Chechnya. They practice till dawn and have planned a bike tour to Moscow at the end of August.

For those who do not own a vehicle to get back home, a round-the-clock taxi service is now available – a sign that Grozny's night-life is really coming back to life.