Trip shows we'll have some challenges ahead

The distance between Ufa, a major city in Russia, and the capital, Moscow, is less than 1,500 kilometers, but I have to wait at least six hours for a plane. It's not like in China, where Beijing is connected with every provincial capital by dozens of daily flights.

When I walk out of the Ufa airport into the chilly early morning on Thursday, I thought I could easily grab a taxi to my hotel, but I had to wait 40 minutes for a ride. There is no taxi at the tiny airport. I took the shuttle bus downtown with fellow journalists from Brazil and India.

It is a real bus, temporarily used for the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summits. Winding its way at a low speed, the bus took more than two hours to reach the hotel in suburban Ufa. Taking a shuttle bus takes time.