Day 108-110: Latvia - Riga

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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 so a 5-hour bus ride was not looking too inviting, but I had no choice. I only had myself to blame. At least it didn't cost me much to get drunk. As the bus started moving I felt queasy and was quickly running out of water, so I had to rely on my music as a distraction. I got better as the bus went along.
Coming out of Tallinn the surrounding buildings and houses were pretty rundown and basic, so the aftermath of Soviet occupation was still apparent. The houses looked sturdy and they didn't look like slums but they weren't exactly in the rich areas either. It was fascinating to see though, and at least each town we passed was thriving and looked reasonably healthy.
About 2 or 3 hours into the trip we came to the Estonia-Latvia border and it was passport checking time. Just like at the Czech Republic border I had stupidly packed my passport away in my bag underneath the seats in the luggage compartment. The bus driver had to open it up but thankfully it was easy to get to and it didn't hold things up.
We had to stand around for about half an hour at passport control before moving on, and it was a nice sunny day with clean air so I spent it outside. I was really thirsty to the point where I could drink anything, so I went into the toilet and drank from the tap. Some guy on the bus said I really shouldn't be doing that but I would've done anything for water to help soothe my lingering hangover at that point. Thankfully I survived.
The Latvian countryside was fairly similar to Estonia. It was as if I was still in the same country. I fell asleep after a while and woke up just outside the Riga bus stop. It was getting pretty dark, something I hadn't experienced in a while since I had been so far north and close to the midnight sun and now I was edging further south again. The bus dropped me off and there wasn't much around. The map I had wasn't too helpful in telling me where to go, and didn't even have the bus station labelled on it. I walked across some tram tracks, almost getting run over by a tram in my lost and confused state, and found a hostel sign. It wasn't mine but it was full of rowdy people as the bar was also the reception, and one of them was able to direct me to my hostel, which was another 10 minutes walk down the road. I finally arrived and had to walk up 4 flights of steep stairs and two levels of security doors where I had to be buzzed in to get to reception, but it was worth it. I was greeted by a tall cute blonde girl who told me to put my bags down, asked for my name, gave me a free beer, and told me to sit down while they sorted out where I was staying. It was such a nice introduction to the hostel!
After 5 minutes she came over to me and showed me around the hostel. This place was awesome! It had a 24-hour bar with hundreds of cheap tasty local beers and 3 wide screen TVs showing cable TV channels and a view over a river, an adjoining room with couches and cable TV with a remote, dorm rooms that were far enough away from the bar not to hear any sound so sleep was possible in complete silence, free 24-hour broadband internet with about 8 computers available for use, and the only 3 or 4 girls I ever saw at reception or working the bar were unbelievably cute and most of them were blonde. It was almost too good to be true.
So I dumped my bags and went straight to the bar. I chatted to a few people here and there, watched some great songs on the TV which was on a music channel, and had a fun night without having to leave the hostel or waste too much money. I don't even remember getting to bed but I was up until at least 3am.

Day 109: July 23 - Riga
Accommodation: Friendly Fun Frank’s Backpackers Hostel

I slept in until the early afternoon but woke up with no hangover surprisingly. I had a good shower and got ready to check out the town. I didn't really know where the sights were in this place so I just wandered around. All the streets in the old town were laid with cobblestones just like Tallinn, and they were all walking streets with no cars allowed without a costly permit. It was great. I found a place to score a nice lunch, an Irish pub actually. I had a good shepherds pie and they offered me a local beer which tasted really good. I saw a few nice old-style buildings which I didn't know the name or significance of, but they were huge and really tall. I found a souvenir shop and scored a Riga fridge magnet, then headed back to the hostel to use some free internet. I stayed on there for a few hours and by this point I was feeling pretty lazy so I watched some TV, then before I knew it I was ready for dinner and it was getting dark outside. I walked around the town and found an area surrounded by restaurants and cafes and other eateries so I figured I'd splash out on a Japanese restaurant. I scored sushi, chicken teriyaki with rice, and unlimited jasmine tea for around AU$20! That was a pretty good deal for the high quality of food I ate, and it was really tasty. Afterwards I headed back to the hostel and found a few more people to chat and drink with, including this one Aussie guy who I had a few laughs with. I had another late late night and it was fun.

Day 110: July 24 - Riga
Accommodation: Friendly Fun Frank’s Backpackers Hostel

My last full day in Riga and I still hadn't accomplished all that much, but it didn't seem to bother me. I'd seen so many sights in so many cities that I was almost completely over the whole sightseeing thing and needed a break. I was on holiday after all and I was entitled to do whatever I wanted with it. Some people spend their whole holidays drinking. I just felt like giving it a try for a couple of days.
I was intending to visit the Latvian resistance museum today which had a similar theme to the one I visited in Tallinn in Estonia, but again I was too lazy to do this. I basically walked around the town shops, spent more time using free internet while I had the chance, and spent more time in the bar. That was pretty much my day, and night also.

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