Warsaw to Bangkok

Riga was my next stop. The bus station is adjacent to both the train station and the bus station, however not the ferry terminal. Next to the bus station is the central market, which is surely one of the finest I’ve ever seen.

After northern Lithuania, Riga was certainly expensive to me. I found a good hostel that hasn’t been listed anywhere ( I should have such luck when I visit innermost Russia later this summer) and walked around a bit. I was only passing through so I don’t have much to say. Old town – check. Big, pretty downtown park – check. Big city vibe – check (even though it’s nowhere near the size of Toronto, it seemed busier).

After a quick investigation of Latvian beer and the central Riga area, I was off to the ferry terminal. I got the cabinmate shaft – an antisocial guy who spoke no English and didn’t leave the cabin the entire trip. I mean, he didn’t eat anything, didn’t go up on deck once to check out the scenery, which outside Stockholm is very impressive. Just a weird guy – my impression is that he was running drugs quite frankly, hence not wanting to leave his packed duffel bag alone. One of the big things about travelling is the people – they can make or break the experience and in this case it was definitely break. All the fun everyone else was having, I just couldn’t get into it because of this creep in my cabin. I didn’t trust him at all.

It was very hot and by the time I got to City Terminalen in Stockholm, I had sweated my way through all my clothes. I stunk big time. My sandals have developed their own aroma, which transmits to my feet as soon as the two meet. They all need time away from one another, which their getting as I write this, but they’ll meet again this evening. Damn. At least all my clothes are clean.

Road weariness sets in every now and again, too. I figured it would by now. Anytime it’s hot and I’m carrying my pack, I’m on a bit of a short fuse. No place looks good until I ditch the pack…and it’s not even that heavy most of the time (except for muling beer from Pakruojis to Stockholm).

What does this have to do with Riga…I suppose it doesn’t, but that’s my feeling when I was in Riga, 2 weeks into the trip.

Tags: Travel

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