Alone In Riga 5:54 am and I am onboard a train to Oslo airport. It’s strange to think this may be the last time I will ever be in Norway (unless of course my Norwegian friends give me an excuse to come back!). It’s crazy that one year has already gone by. So much has happened this year. I feel like I’ve grown by leaps and bounds and pray that God continues to refine me and teach me even more when I go home. Kaspars K and his friend picked me up from the airport, dropped me off at the hotel [View Full Entry]

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I have been living in Europe long enough now to expect the public transport to be on time. 35 minutes late the bus finally shows up. It's a good thing I didn't have to be in Riga at a certain time. The delays didn't stop there. I had to decipher if my seat number meant the one above the seat or below the seat, as they were totally different. After I just thought "stuff it" and sat down, an argument broke out between one of the passengers and the driver. It turned ugly with the passenger slamming his fist on seats [View Full Entry]

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Left Riga quite early in the morning. I went downstair the the reception and asked to call a cab for the airport. Thanks godness that there was someone actually awake to look after the bar and be a receptionist for the hostel at the same time. I asked her roughly how much would it be the fare for the ride to the airport to get an idea. But not to worry, the taxi is metered. But who knows if the meter is actually working and accurate. I guess I have to take my chance. The cab driver did not speak english. [View Full Entry]

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So finally I am able to leave Kyiv and Ukraine all together without problem. Haleluja ! It is a great feeling when I am in the air (flying) away and further away from Ukraine. The country has beautiful scenary and golden churches but the people are less helpful when you are in need of help and their attitude toward hospitality service seems non-existance. I DON'T recommend travellers to come to Ukraine unless you are an experienced traveller, you can speak a little Russian, dont mind being harrassed or singled out by customs officials because of your appearance (not business or suit [View Full Entry]

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Day 108: July 22 - ESTONIA - Tallinn, LATVIA - Riga Accommodation: Friendly Fun Frank’s Backpackers Hostel I woke up with a bit of a hangover this morning, nothing brutal but enough to be annoying. I stuffed all my belongings into my bags, grabbed some water and a quick bite to eat, and caught a taxi out to the bus station with only 10 minutes to spare after having trouble getting out of bed earlier. Luckily the bus was still boarding so I threw my bags on and found a seat. I only had one bottle of water and no food [View Full Entry]

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Riga is undoubtedly beautiful. An art noveau overload with cobbled streets, spires and turrets. Its medieval old town is heritage listed by UNESCO and it was nothing short of bustling when I arrived a few days before the summer solstice festival. However, now Riga risks losing its UNESCO status with the construction of too many modern buildings. Even worse, the cheap airlines have got in and every weekend bring obnoxious and arrogant groups of bucks parties across from the UK. There is a vibe about Riga I just didn't like. Organised crime is a problem and strip clubs, casinos and other [View Full Entry]

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Ok, ok enough already, here's your update, Christ its enough to make you want to leave the country! So this will be a brief light-hearted summary of what's happened so far If you're sitting comfortably I'll begin. I'll pick this up on 17th June in Prague, Czech Republic. Congratulations to Dunc and to Helena on getting married last weekend I was thinking of you while I was salivating the Baltic beauties here in Riga; you've got a congratulations card in the post (well actually no you haven't but seeing as you're on honeymoon I figure I've got a good two weeks [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick note to say that I got the photo gallery going, thanks to my Riga host, Julija. It includes the pictures that are blacked out in the blog entries. [View Full Entry]

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I learned that Vikingas, one of the teams from Vilnius, has two Ukrainians on their team, one of them being the pitcher we faced that day. According to Sigitas, they have six paid players on the team. One paid player they acquired from another Vilnius Club, another from Utena (a city two hours away). In both cases the guys were on teams that did not have money to pay players. Sigitas did not how much they were paid, simply that they were paid. When I asked him how they could afford to pay six players, he explained to me that of [View Full Entry]

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On Saturday we drove to Vilnius to match up against Vikingas. We were missing four of our starters; I was most worried about Mantas because it meant that we had no catcher, and old Marius (35 year old) had to do it. The Ukrainian pitcher was pitching for Vikingas, and it was a close game. We lost 5-3, though four of the Vikingas runs were unearned. And there’re was one brutal out call at the plate where our guy was clearly safe, ending a potential rally. In arguing over the call, Marius (the player called out) called the umpire a series [View Full Entry]

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