Epilogue

It has been a year or so after the trip to the Baltic, and actually it took me a while to finish up this blog. Indeed I had thought of giving it up due to laziness, but after half a year allowing the blog to stand idle, it suddenly aroused my motivation to continue with the blog and to make it complete. Nevertheless, it really reminded me back to my days that I spent in the Baltic, the incredibly long sunshine and the tremendously friendly people I have met along the way.

As my flight landed at Gatwick airport in London, I went busily across southern England to visit friends, and everywhere I go, people asked me about my trip. It was really great just to share the many moments of the time with them. I truly believe how travellers can make a difference to the world, be it a contribution to more peace and understanding or simply to contribute economically to the countries by spending our hard-earn dollars onto their economy.

What I really enjoy the most in the Baltic is its pristine nature and countryside, which is becoming more in scarcity due to continuing globalisation and industrialisation of the world, which only creates more pollution and destruction to the nature. A bicycle ride through Aukstaitijos National Park in Lithuania, or simply a hike across the Gauja National Park in Latvia reminds me how the world was suppose to be before us, human being comes. Indeed, that is how tourism board in all the three Baltic States promote themselves: nature, transquilty, country side tours, and the like. However, does nature exist only for the tourist's pleasure?

Well, partly true, I believe. But more importantly, it is also for educational purpose. Eco-tourists like us, when travelling to any natural places, always commit to an objectives of minimal destruction to the natural environment: do not leave anything behind but footprints, for example. Ecotourists, after visited a place, go home and talk to folks in our home not just about how beautiful the place is, but more about how we can contribute a part in preserving our world. This serves the educational purpose, I believe. Ecotourists, besides visiting nature, also serves to bridging cultural gaps. When we go into other places, we try to merge ourselves into their culture as much as possible, encouraging maximum interaction, both in terms of human conversation as well as participating in their lives, eating the local food, taking the local transportations, or if possible, learning their languages. This "culturally ecofriendly" way of travelling, I believe, also contribute positively to our world.

Nevertheless, after the two days visiting the UK and on my way back to Hong Kong, I once again had the chance to pass over Helsinki airport. As I was sitting down in a small cafe eating the delicious smoke-salmon salad, it recalled my memories of the trip and the many moments I had spent in their country. While glaring in awe at the environmentally friendly way of how the airport was built, I murmured to myself, "That is how the world should suppose to be..."

And indeed, that is perfectly true.

More photos of London and Oxford:

http://lonelytraveller01.multiply.com/photos/album/14/

More photos of Helsinki Vantaa Airport:

http://lonelytraveller01.multiply.com/photos/album/15/

(Picture caption: 1. Me taking a picture of London skyline around the Thames river area. 2. A view of Helsinki Vantaa Airport, bright and sunny... resembles how the world should suppose to be.)

Last day in Vilnius (26 - 27/7/2006)

There aren't many things to do in Vilnius during the last day there. However, there were also a few points of interest that is worth to see before my final departure out of the country. In that, the three cross hill is an interesting site, resembling three crosses on top of a small hill.

I walked up the hill through a small trail, and soon I reached the top. Such a nice vista of the city of Vilnius! I thought, with many nice red-roofed houses packing together, resembling many old cities of Lithuania. Just as I was about to take out my camera and tried to take photos of the nice city, I nearly shouted in horror! Guess what's happened? As I was holding my camera, it suddenly slipped off from my hand and start flying into the air, finally laid at rest at some of the grassy area about 1 feet away from me. And, if I didn't remember wrong, that slop was downhill. If it was not because of a tree or something, the camera might have rolled downhill and will be lost in the horizon.

Thanks God! I exclaimed. If the camera really had rolled downhill, it will resembles another incident of my Vietnamese trip in May, having all my photos of my trip lost! Quickly, I climbed over the fence and snatched the camera back into my hands. I promise I will never be so careless.

After the visit to the three-crossed hill, I went back down and walk around the nice little town a bit, trying to breathe in the final air of the Baltic. Because in the next day, I will be flying out of Vilnius early towards London, where I will be spending the next 3 days there, visiting friends from church as well as and my brothers. It was sad to leave all these beautiful sceneries, the friendly people I have met, and most importantly some of the best food I have had.

As Vilnius rolled into the night, I realised I have had the best time ever, now waiting for the next day to come where I took a taxi to the airport and broaded on my flight towards London Gatwick airport. This, I called the end of my Baltic trip.

(Picture caption: 1. The three-crosses at the three-crossed hill at Vilnius. 2. A photo taken from up the three-crosses hill. 3. Me taking my last photo at the Vilnius backpacker youth hostel, Vilnius.)

2 Days Embracing Nature - Aukstaitija National Park, Lithuania (24 - 25/7/2006)

Before this trip, I have already heard of the infamous countryside of the Baltics. Its unspoiled and transquilent nature is world renown. Namely the famous Gauja National Park in Latvia, the Curonian Spit National Park in the western coast of Lithuania, and now the Aukstaitija National Park, located in North-east Lithuania. This time, I decided to head up there for 2 days, in order to find my own solitude, soaking up the natural beauty of what Lithuania can offer.

During the morning, I headed up to the train station, and got the next train to the town of Ignalina, the gateway town to the Aukstaitija National Park. This 2 hours train ride passing through unspoiled nature is really a breathtaking experience. Within moments I arrived in Ignalina and this was followed by a short taxi ride towards the town of Paluse, the first village inside Aukstaitija.

Paluse is an attractive village and there I booked a small wooden cottage house for my accomodation there, but the toilet and the bathrooms are all outdoors in another house. Nevertheless, this enable me to get a feel of the countryside in a traditional Lithuanian setting. Next to my accommodation is the beautiful Lake Lusiai, and there, like that of Kaunas Lake and Trakai, one can also rent small boats and row around the lake. I figured that is the best way to tour the area and so I jumped onto one and start rowing around. In fact, it is possible to row across the National Park through a network of lakes in 2 days, but I figure that would be a bit too exhausting for me. After an hour, I returned the boat and start doing something else.

Besides boating, another good way to explore the countryside is to rent a bicycle and cycle around. There is a road that go around the National Park and one should be able can complete the 40km circle in around 5 hours, while enjoying the beautiful nature along the way. By going south, I soon reached the area called Ladakalnis, about a 2 hours ride by bicycle from Paluse, where one climb up a 100m small hill in order to have a good view of all the surrounding hills and lakes. After this place, I continued the northern loop, while passing through other small villages until I get back to Paluse, through the road that leads up from Ignalina. I arrived back to Paluse in the evening, totally exhausted only to find out that all restaurants are closed for the night. I headed to the only supermarket in the village and bought myself some bread and salami meat in order to fill up my hungry stomach, and this I called it the night.

The next day was pretty much walking around the Paluse area, taking more photos until noon. There I hired a taxi to take me back to Ignalina train station for the next train back to Vilnius.

More photos of Aukstaitija National Park:

http://lonelytraveller01.multiply.com/photos/album/13

(Picture caption: Top - Tourist playing games at Lake Lusiai, Middle - Me taking a picture at Ladakalnis, the highest point of Aukstaitija, Bottom - Me on a bicycle next to Lake Lusiai.)

Vilnius - KGB museum and Kaunas, central Lithuania (23/7/07 - Day 9)

Before my arrival to Lithuania, I never thought of visiting Kaunas, as I thought it was just a provincial town in the center of Lithuania, nothing special about it. However, surprisingly, I have get to know of this town for more than 10 years, due to the fact that a long time Canadian friend from high school has did some mission work there with an orphanage. Knowing that I am now in Lithuania, better visit this place than never again...

On my way from Klaipeda (in the west Baltic coast) to Vilnius, I already passed through Kaunas on the motorway, and this time, going back to Kaunas from Vilnius is like backtracking the route. Despite the fact, it is worth the trip.

Before I took the bus northwest to Kaunas, I first visited the infamous KGB museum of Vilnius. Basically this was the former KGB prison back in the old Soviet times, when political prisoners are being held and interrogated here. A visit to this place is like going into the horror movies, where one can see live prison cells, interrogation rooms, torture rooms, etc... Seeing all these historical facts right in display was like going through a Lithuanian history lesson, and one can imagine how life is like under the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Nevertheless, Lithuania, like its neighbouring countries of Latvia and Estonia, successfully declared independent and now enjoying its own freedom, and are even full members of the European Union. This awesome fact is definitely worth to celebrate and to be proud of.

After the visit to this former KGB museum, I headed off to the bus station and took the next bus to Kaunas. Both Vilnius and Kaunas are some of the biggest cities in Lithuania, as a result, bus transportation between these two cities are frequent and soon I arrived in Kaunas. Upon my arrival, I opened my tour guidebook and headed to a famous monastery there, called the Pazaislis Monastery, located in the outskirt of Kaunas, next to the smelly Kaunas lake. Unfortunately, there was a conference being held there at the time and my request to tour the monastery was uprightly rejected, but fortunately they let me take a picture of the place, at least...

Next to the monastery is the Kaunas Lake, and alike Trakai castle, one can also rent a boat and do the same row-row-row-a-boat kind of activities there. Having enjoyed so much in Trakai the day before, I once again indulged myself for another boat ride in this Kaunas lake.

Unfortunately, Kaunas Lake was not even a third as beautiful as Trakai. First of all, I constantly smell the flavour of Sulphur in the lake. Secondly, the surrounding atmosphere was a bit boring, without any castle or green trees. Thirdly, the lake appears dark instead of blue. Within half an hour, I got bored of rowing the boat and I returned the boat and headed away. Quickly, I got onto a minibus and headed back into downtown.

Due to the fact that it was a Sunday, the town appears surprisingly quiet, with the old town square area so deserted that I can hardly see anyone walking around. Most shops are closed with only a few open. After taking a few pictures of the town hall, including the ruin of the Kaunas Castle as well as the white St. Michael Church, I took a bus back to the station for the next coach back to Vilnius.

Kaunas is supposingly a beautiful city, although maybe I was there in the wrong time. Nevertheless, I did take some beautiful pictures that is worth the memory.

More photos of Kaunas: http://lonelytraveller01.multiply.com/photos/album/12/

(Picture caption: Top - Pazaislis Monastery - next to Kaunas Lake. Bottom - St. Michael Church in the old town of Kaunas)

Row, Row, Row a Boat.... - A Day in Trakai (22/7/06 - Day 8)

Before arrival, I have already noticed this beautiful castle from the long time Canadian friend who has sent me photos of this place back in high-school. Basically, if you go to any tourist information office across Lithuania, you will notice pictures of this beautiful castle proudly displaying in their office. And truly, when I arrived at the hostel, everybody told me this same thing, "Go to Trakai, go to Trakai, it is a beautiful place."

"Sure, that is certainly in my schedule." I murmured.

Early in the morning, I headed to the bus station and board on the next bus to Trakai. Trakai isn't far away from Vilnius, only a merely 1.5 hours away by bus, and within moments I arrived at Trakai. The bus station isn't exactly located right at the center, and it requires a 15 to 30 minutes walk towards the castle. However, as the castle draws near, the beautiful scenery already appears and I was deeply drawn into its transquilty.

What make Trakai so attractive is, besides its beautiful orange coloured castle, is its surrounding lakes and the availability of boats to rent. Besides, Trakai plays an important role to Lithuania's history. It was the capital of Lithaunia back in the 1300s, and the castle was built over in 100 years in order to fend itself off from the Germans.

The way to visit this place, besides walking through the castle and exploring every single floor of it, is to rent a small boat and row around the castle island. It suddenly reminds me of my childhood time, when I was murmuring this little song:

"Row, row, row a boat, gently down the stream.... "

As I row over the lake, under the bridges, over to the island, etc... I felt so relaxing, as if I was totally soaked into the scene, standing right in the middle of a perfect picture. This can't be real, I thought.

After a late lunch, a routinely diet of potatoes again, I walked back to the bus station and started my return journey back to Vilnius. Instead of taking the big slow bus, I hop onto a small matshrutka minibus instead, and within an hour, I arrived back to Vilnius, and this concluded my beautiful journey to the Trakai castle.

More photos of Trakai: http://lonelytraveller01.multiply.com/photos/album/11

(Picture caption: 1. The beautiful Orange castle of Trakai. 2. The beautiful surrounding lake, Trakai. 3. Me posting myself in front of the Trakai castle, before crossing the bridge.)

Klaipeda to Vilnius - The Romantic capital of the Baltics (21/7/06 - Day 7)

Had enough of the Klaipeda, I thought, as I was ready to embrace the coming adventures. The bus station was nearby where I live, and after checking a few emails from the hostel, I head off to the bus station and board the next bus for Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The road between Klaipeda and Vilnius is a four-lane freeway, and after passing through Kaunas, I finally arrived at Vilnius in the late afternoon.

My first impression of Vilnius was that, it was huge. Much bigger than the other two Baltic capitals, Riga and Tallinn. After dropping off my luggage at a hostel nearby the downtown area, I head off for some fun. Within a short walk north is the Gediminas castle, and by going up the hill I can see the whole view of Vilnius, quite a pretty view indeed.

Before I reached up there, I bumped into a bunch of American high-school kids who are there on a mission trip and was singing gospel song. Arousing my curiosity, I bumped into them and they started talking to me.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"From the US." A girl answered. "We are on a mission trip here."

"Oh I see." I replied.

"So do you live in Vilnius? What do you do here?" She replied.

"No, I am a tourist, I just arrived, and I am from Hong Kong." I answered. "You know, I am a Christian as well."

"Oh that's good." She replied. "Our next destination is Minsk, Belarus."

"Oh, that should be fun." I said. "However, to get there you need a visa, and I think it is way too much hassle."

"Yes, we already have a visa." She replied.

Good for you. I thought. I really hope to visit Belarus, but fear of border hassle, I just forget about it. Plus, being Chinese looking really doesn't help, and I hate borders. It just isn't fun when a bunch of border guards try to torn out my luggage with a suspicious eyes looking at me, fear that I am an illegal immigrant trying to smuggle into their country using a fake British passport. To be honest, who want to smuggle into such a poor country like Belarus? I thought.

Anyway, after a few songs from them, I continued the walk up the castle. The scenery from there was absolutely gorgeous, as one can see the skyline of Vilnius from nearly every direction. It was amazing to overlook the skyline of Vilnius, as red-roofed houses appears over your horizon.

Walking back down the castle, I headed for more sightseeing across Vilnius. Surprisingly, in Vilnius there is a catholic church in nearly every corner of the road, the most beautiful scene is when three different churches merges together that form an absolutely beautiful picture. The best way to take such a nice picture is to find a good corner, where the three churches emerges perfectly.

Vilnius old center is big, much bigger than that of Riga and Tallinn, and nearly all buildings are baroque style, colourful and gothic. But yet, Vilnius is just as capitalistic as the other capital. The Chili Kaimas restaurant has several branches, and I ate at their restaurant for dinner.

After returning to the hostel, guess who I saw? That Italian men I met at the bus from Tallinn to Riga. "Hey, remember who I am?" He asked.

"Em... I think I have met you somewhere..." I replied... but realised that I did met him before.

"Remember, that bus from Tallinn to Riga?" He replied.

"Oh yes, I do. So, how long have you stayed in this hostel?"

"For a few days already." He replied.

"You come straight here from Riga?" I asked.

"Yes." He replied.

"For me, I travelled to many places before heading here, including Sigulda in Latvia, Klaipeda in Lithuania, the Hill of Crosses, etc..." I replied. "There are simply so many things to see, especially Lithuania."

As I headed up to my bed, I was like dead tired. I met a few more friends in the hostel, including a British guy, some German women and also a girl from Japan. Hostel life should be fun.

More photos of Vilnius: http://lonelytraveller01.multiply.com/photos/album/10

(Pic Caption: 1. Three churches with many crosses, Vilnius. 2. A street in old town Vilnius. 3. The Gediminas castle, Vilnius.)

Sand Dunes in Lithuania! - The Curonian Spit (20/7/06 - Day 6)

Have you ever imagine the Sahara Dessert in Lithuania? Impossible, isn't it? Well, but there is somewhere in Lithuania that looks quite close to being the Sahara, and that is the infamous Curonian Spit. The Curonian Spit is a narrow strip of peninsula that goes up from the Kaliningrad region of Russia into Lithuania, and around half of it is covered with sand dunes. It is about 50km long but only around 2km wide, and is one of the strangest phenomenon in the world. Nowadays, the Curonian Spit is one of the National Parks of Lithuania, popular with tourists from the Baltics, from Europe and beyond. The best way to see this region is to head to the town of Nida, about 50km away from Klaipeda, and from there one can easily walk to the sand dunes.

After a three hours train ride from Siauliai, I finally arrived in Klaipeda, and from the train station it was an easy walk to my hostel. After I checked in, I met a pair of old couples who came from Sweden, and like me, they were also travelling around the Baltics. Also, I met another friend who came from Los Angeles. He is originally from Hong Kong as well and he can speaks quite ok Cantonese. I headed out with the American-Chinese friend to a Lithuanian restaurant called the Chili Kaimas, which turned out to be a cheap, good restaurant throughout Lithuania. Later, this chain restaurant became my "canteen" as I almost eat in this chain restaurant everyday during my whole time in Lithuania.)

The next day, I headed off to Klaipeda city center, and after taking a few photos of this small Germanic city of Klaipeda, I headed to the ferry terminal and took a small ferry crossing the small strip of sea into the Curonian Spit. The first town of arrival at Curonian Spit is Smityne, which is nothing more than a stop to change a minibus or a bus southwards into the Curonian Spit area. There I board the next minibus south to Nida, the southernmost town in the Lithuanian Curonian Spit area, only 2km away from the Lithuanian - Kaliningrad Russia border. Unfortunately, the need of an expensive visa to Kaliningrad has diverted my plans to visit Kaliningrad, which I think is a wise choice since there are not too many things to see there and getting such an expensive visa is surely not worth it.

Nida is a small, nice resort, with many hotels and seaside restaurants, and there I had my lunch. I ordered a traditional Lithuanian dish called the Cepelinai, basically a huge potatoes dumpling with minced meat inside, to be eaten with sour cream and Dill. Talking about Lithuanian food, I have had more potatoes eaten in Lithuania than my entire year in Hong Kong. Nearly every kind of Lithuanian food is made up of potatoes, such as massed potatoes, potato chips, potatoes dumplings, potato sausages, and any kinds of potato products you can think of, and every dish comes with a huge serving of it. Truly, this is one of the things I missed the most during my Baltic trip.

After lunch I commenced the walk towards the Sand Dunes, and there I bumped into the Swedish couple I met in the hostel and together we walked towards the Sand Dunes. the scenery of the Sand Dunes are like, "wow," as endless area of sands can be seen from across the horizon. Truly, it really makes me think of the Sahara desert. I was curious enough of the Sand Dunes and I climbed out of the pathway and began to walk on the sand. To be honest, walking on sand dunes is really not easy, and I nearly got sunk into the sand or not being able to walk back to the pathway. It is impossible to walk all the way from one side of the Sand Dunes to the other, not even to say the sand dunes cross into another country! (into Kaliningrad, Russia) However, seeing this phnomenon in Lithuania is interesting enough as it is hard to imagine how Sand dunes exist right next to the Baltic sea coast.

After returning to the town of Nida, I continued north towards the town of Joudkrante, another sea-side resort town at the Curonian Spit. There are not that many things to do, but there located a famous trail through the Witches Hill, a small hiking trail displaying many Lithuanian traditional wood cravings. It is fun to see many of these cravings, as it is like going through a Lithuanian art lesson.

Forgotten to say, the Baltic states are famous for a mineral called the Amber, and Lithuania has loads of it. On the way back from the Witches Hill, I saw the many tables that sell pictures decorated with Amber bits. Suddenly, I remembered my piano students as I have promised to buy them some souvenirs from my trip. Quickly, those cheap and good Amber pictures became my target, and within a catch, I bought nearly 30 of them.

At the evening, I took the bus back to Klaipeda, and as the bus approach, it was packed to the gills. I quickly found my own pieces of space next to the driver, and guess whom I bumped into again? The Swedish couple. Upon arriving back to Klaipeda, we headed out for dinner, and I recommended them that Chili Kaimas restaurant. Surely, they liked it! We had an interesting talk during dinner and it is surely fun to meet people from around the world.

More photos of Klaipeda and the Curonian Spit: http://lonelytraveller01.multiply.com/photos/album/9

(Pic Captions - Top: Me self-taking a picture at the Sand Dunes, Nida. Middle: Lithuanian traditional wood-carving along the Witches Hill Trail, Juodkrante. Bottom: A pavillion selling different products made of Amber, Juodkrante.)