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Published: October 24th 2010
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Bus 22 from the airport took me to downtown Riga, as per hostel instructions I got off at the Stockmann stop and walked towards Origo, another mall, and surprisingly I found the hostel quite easily, Elisabeth hostel is on an old building at the end of a small street next to the noisy train station. No one was there and the reception wanted to charge me more for just turning up and no booking, but when she sensed I was about to walk out she changed her mind and charged me the posted rates. The place is nice and clean and very quiet, I was alone, wifi works well but my adapter does not fit in the socket so I went to the central market to find one but no success, I found a good adapter at Stockmanns for $10 but I have to buy it as I need it. At Narvesen one of the small convenient stores I bought sim card for my cell phone, the girl there was cute and I pretended not to know how to use it on my phone so I can talk to her more, she was sweet and had a boyfriend, moving on..
I am not ready for European prices, in my head is still Central Asian prices, I found myself doing the math everytime i try to buy something, the Baltics I have to do quickly before I run out of money. If my visa was not expiring I will still be in Taj, cheapest fare I could find to exit out is with Air Baltic and it brought me here. It's cold in Riga though its sunny, autumn is in the air, and not like Tajikistan people dont stop to greet you, I feel like I am back in Boston already people rushing to get to places no greeting each other. Anyway I have to adjust quickly. I bought veggies and grilled chicken bits at Rimi supermarket and made a salad at the hostel, at least there is a kitchen to use. I retired early, I had an early start in Dushanbe, having to be at the airport at 3am for my 5am flight, the stupid immigration officer demanding I have a visa to Latvia before letting me board the plane, I spelled it to him quite literally, NO NEED FOR VISA! quite a few times, meanwhile the queue behind me
is getting long, he lets go of me eventually when one colleague of his gave me a go signal.
Firuz my Csurfing friend in Tajikistan has a friend here in Riga and I contacted him and we made plans to meet up the next day. I did a quick sightseeing of the city, the old town is small and simple, when I got tired I went back to the hostel then Ilhom texted me to say he wants to meet up at Origo, I met him there and he quickly invited me to stay with him, as I paid 2 nights already at the hostel I promised to move to his place the next day. Quite shy and very reserved, total opposite of outgoing Firuz, Ilhom is more calculating, but after half an hour he was at ease with me and we talked about his life in Riga and ambitions and eventually religion, he is very religious and is observing Ramadan intently, we parted ways when I needed to find the tourist office and he to meet some friends.
I was having a good sleep at the hostel when i got woken up by a new arrival. A
guy from Venezuela, Jorge, is a nice guy, we chatted a bit before I checked out the mext morning, I paid my bill and left my luggage, i have to pay for left luggage! Anyway I went to Ilhom's work at a hotel in the old town, he gave me tips on what to do in the city then we will meet up again at 6pm there to go back to his place. I went to the train station hoping to get to Sigulda but the next train leaves in 3 hours, then Jurmala, the beach place, the departure is within the next half hour so I bought my ticket. the train was slow but we got there in about half hour. the moment I got there I did not like it, its touristy with shops and bars and hotels on the main drag, but at the end of it was a nice park, I chilled a bit then decided to head back as this wasnt what I was looking for, I had hoped for a nice walk in the beach but I could not find it!
Back to town I picked up my backpack at the hostel and
met Ilhom at the hotel, then we shopped at the central market, decided to cook for him tonight as a thank you, he was a bit worried about what I will cook, I have to convince him I can cook, he told me he is fasting and when he breaks his fast at past 8pm he will be very hungry and if he cant eat my food...But when he saw how I shop for ingredients i think he got convinced I can cook, he wont let me pay for the things I buy so we have to meet halfway and we halved the expenses. a tram ride out towards the other side of the river we arrived at his apartment, it's nice and simple and actually big space,he is renting and has a roommate from Afghanistan. he told me to feel comfortable as he starts to make his prayers I start cooking the pasta dish, after he broke his fast he literally inhaled the pasta, he was so hungry and am glad he loved my cooking as we finished a huge plate of it.
His Afghan roommate came and joined us in the kitchen, we chatted a bit though
his English is poor, he was always smiling and Ilhom acted as interpreter, he wanted to know what i did in the Pamirs, how close was I to Afghanistan etc. After tea, Ilhom played some movie on you tube about the beginnings of Islam, since it's Ramadan time it may be appropriate to learn about his religion, honestly I haven't a clue as to it's origins, though the movie was long it was very interesting and informative, it was in English so it was easy to follow.
At the end of the movie he apologized to me for having make me watch it, but I did not mind as it was informative and intriguing to me. Moments later the solemn mood in the room changed quickly as he starts playing techno music in his computer until we went to bed. He has a huge furnace in his room! never seen anything like it before, it looks like a giant incinerator, and he swore it is really warm in winter, all he needs to do is find firewood in the forests nearby and he saves from using the heater.
3am Ilhom wakes up to have snack before he fasts again,
I cooked him some spinach omellete to give him some nutrition. 8:15 am I heard him calling me, time to get up, we rushed to catch the tram back to town and we separated at the central market, he off to work at the hotel and I on my way to Taliin, Estonia.
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