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Beatboxing the Baltic

September 12th, 2008

Instantly on arriving in Tallinn it appears to be a far more thriving place than Riga.  Still the same pattern of old town, this time rather attractively on a hill as opposed to beside a river, surrounded by more recent development of which there has been quite a bit.  From what I’ve read Estonia is the success story of the European Union expansion into the Baltic.  Skype was created here, turns out fittingly as we sure put it through its paces but more on that in a bit.   It definitely feels more cosmopolitan, where in Riga a couple of blocks out of the old city it was almost immediately run down Tallinn has skyscrapers and malls.  Usually I wouldn’t view this as a positive but here it feels kind of hopeful so will let it slide.

 Braving the icy wind.

Lookout over the lower old town.

I am gradually settling into the backpacking routine again – arrive, preliminary money change of a small amount to be able to use local transport, find local transport, find map of local transport, argue a bit about local transport, take local transport (in this case buses), find hostel conveniently located under a stripclub (a great look the next morning when outside in the courtyard gateway having coffee and cigarette then realise why all the passersby are smiling is cos right overhead is a sign for the top floor establishment).  Change more money trying to estimate how many Kroons will be needed for a couple of days accurately enough not to get burned too much by exchanging money too many times yet still having enough to have a good time.  All pretty straightforward on about an hours assessment of prices, find supermarket, find pub. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in entertainment, estonia, Tallinn | No Comments »

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Asleep at the game.

September 10th, 2008

“I will not be jet-lagged!”

“I will not be jet-lagged!”

I kept repeating this mantra in the hope that the force of will would change reality.  One early night for recovery might be acceptable but requiring two, come on.  Having made the others come with me to the World Cup qualifying match that was on in Riga that Wednesday it was particularly embarrassing that I couldn’t stop myself from nodding off in the second half.   Maybe the game had something to do with it, Greece vs. Latvia is hardly the most compelling matchup.  Especially Greece, though they probably played the most attractively I’ve seen.  Their first goal was very nice with a superbly floated curling cross from the right wing met perfectly just outside the 6yd box by a grateful striker’s head.  The whole movement made even better by our seats which were right down by the left hand corner flag giving the perfect angle to see the cross.

Greece take a corner

 Greek Corner Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in bar, bus trip, football, Latvia, Riga | No Comments »

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Consistency explained.

September 9th, 2008

Riga.  (For the help of German customs officers it is the capital city of a country you have invaded more times than a Bush has landed troops in the Middle East.)

There are moments when the daunting prospect of Russia looms like a particularly ugly and imposing apartment block.  In being asked about the trip, leading up to departure, I always answered that I didn’t know what was planned which was true enough but now the only real known part was behind me.   These nervous feelings were hardly quashed by my first experience with Russo-like officiousness which occurred in the very first experience being the local bus into town from the airport.  The conductor, a true stereotype of a short, shapelessly round old woman dressed in unflattering trousers and shirt covered with an apron; perches on a stool halfway down the bus from where she is expected to manage the ticketing process.  This is not as easy as it sounds as, even through this is the one bus from the airport into the city and so totally full with people and baggage from the outset, it was also expected to make frequent stops along the way.  The little conductor lady would then yell at the entering passengers for the 0.40 lat fare and attempt to pass them a ticket from the book pinned to her uniform.  All of this was taking place in front of my nose wedged as I was between the stool, my bag, four other bags and half a dozen people; Arny and Rdoc had managed a seat.  Oh yeah, the bag.  Thanks to the Dutch girl with the Indian sized suitcase who pissed off the conductor by handing over a 20 lat note for which there wasn’t enough change and so a baggage charge was created to facilitate the transaction and which was then enforced on all of us surrounding the incident.

 Don’t lay flowers here unless you fancy a free trip to the gulag.

Milda the Freedom Monument at night.

It’s a good sign about a hostel when you walk in the front door and there are about twenty crates of empty bottles filling the entrance way.   Then you work out how they make their money when the bar charge 2 lats a beer when a bed for the night costs 5.  Apparently the building is historically listed which fits mainly if you consider historical to mean falling down.  This action also fits with the actual historic feature being the staircase, I’ve seen walls that were less vertical. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in architecture, food, hostel life, Latvia, market, museum, Riga | No Comments »

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Making Lists

September 6th, 2008

The few days leading up to departure had been such a constant stream of last second things to get done – vegemite for Arnika, insurance, what’s going to be the best way to take money for the trip, load computer with music, where the hell are my sunglasses (still unresolved), got photocopies of everything, bye, see ya, no I don’t know when I’m coming back, once more describe the route that’s been playing in my head for months gradually filling in details each time through (all those times I suddenly seemed to drift off into some far off place going from animated to barely there), get told safety advice, nod politely – all I could really focus on was that moment when it all stopped and I would sink back into the plush confines of flight SQ025 seat 42k and wait to be moved.

When asked whether an event is better if it’s new or historical very rarely would I plump for the former. But going on just the excitement in Changi airport the first Singapore Grand Prix in a couple of weeks is going to be something else. With six hours to kill playing full size simulators where you’re actually sitting in a scale replica car and full peripheral vision on the three LCD screens in front of you sure helps, the Team India one was especially good as it moved to your command. The rest of the airport was nice too though it was where I found that my laptop was packing a sad and that I couldn’t download the first episode of the second season of Gossip Girl as planned. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in flying, Germany, Singapore | No Comments »

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