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Published: October 27th 2008
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Hi.
My blogging, well. I guess irratic isn't quite the word but non-existent for the last couple of months, it has been.
I have just recently cleared the border of Russia and am now back in the EU after over 2 years of being in the Asian part fo the world, and well its intersting to be back.
Certainly blogging was the least of my concerns whilst I was in Russia, and almost impossible in Mongolia, and China and Estonia, well, I was just lazy. But rest assured that they are in the post and that for the time being I'm just going to try and start a fresh and catch up as I go.
I will leave tomorrow for Vilnius, Lithuania, and am having this oppurtunity to blog as the whole adventure, although continuing is slowing down and life is becoming much easier, back in the EU.
No border checks and in fact no passport checks in this 'shengan' part of the world. everyone speaking the old english and cash and visa machines abound.... but I can't help but find it all too easy. Russia....
I say that word and come over with a
glassy stare (so Im told anyway) but the adventures (and they were adventures) seem more and more to be a distant memory..... Anyway one thing at a time.
But for now it is certainly good to be here in this, Baltic part of the world and I am doing my best to be a good tourist.
Riga, was in fact the only place I visited in latvia. A country where 1 lat is the same as 1 pound sterling has already damaged my wallet a little, but I have had a great time.
Arriving on the Firday, I climbed St peters church in the Old Town, and took in a chilly autumn view of the city of some 800000 peeps. I stayed in a hostel where for the first time I was greated by hordes of englishmen on weekends, looking for cheap alcholol and ladies, where the service was great and the fun certainly was there, but I was still a little keen to be somewhere a little more quiet and it was all a bit much to be honest after my 2 years away, and predominantly men.
In fact I have been slowly meeting Brits
more and more along the way but this was the first party city on the new easy jey route that I stopped in (after Tallin Estonia I suppose) and I kind of came to a bit of a cultural hault and spent the majortiy of my time in bars and eating hearty latvian cuisine.
Sometimes, you have to take time. And I realise that every country is not going to be a crazy adventure, with an indepth understaning of different aspects of the culture and people, and making friends and promises, and in my case when I arrived in Riga, was on my second Baltic country and probably in need of just a relax and time of wind down (and do things like write blogs) , and so I dont really feel I can comment on the Lativan people or the country at this point.
HOWEVER, I still had a good time here and went to some great bars and partyed among a very young and cool crowd of Latvians and Russians. And there is much more that I could learn about this country but for the time being I have a knew challenge keeping me awake at night... Belarus!!
Last communist dictatorship in Europe. I am heading to Vilnius to begin getting my visa sorted and in the mean time I just had a nice couple of relaxing uneventfull days wandering and taking photos.
And Riga is a beautiful city. A mix of Medievil churches, Art Nouveu (spelling please!) gothic buildings, soviet statues dotted here and there, and a general feeling of party about it.
On my first night, Kate and I, a friend I met in Russia and am travelling with checked out a Cuban bar, and the highlight was an old man rocking on the dacne floor eating a jar of honey. Natural highs!! And the life of the party! Which we followed with some of the most over crowded bars Ive ever been to and a pretty awful eurocrap club. In general the theme of the time here went like that and apart from a few attempts to leave the old town districts, we just kicked back, at and recooped from the last couple of months on the road.
Much like the Estonians, there is a reservedness about the Latvians that meant that I never really got a chance to get know the
people, which has spurred me to join couch surfing and hunt down the locals in Lituania.
In gerenal, beautiful city, and another small little gem, that I will have to come back to one day-and really see.
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Jennie T
Jennie Terman
Rock on!
Nick! Heeeeyy!! I just finally got around to reading your blogs from leaving Kamijima-chou till now. Amazing! Looks like you are having the best time! It definitely made me nostalgic and a little jealous reading your blogs and remembering the feeling of traveling and just being in a foreign culture. More power to you! And I wish you a safe and fun-filled trip back to the U.K.!