Heading South towards Riga (17/7/06 - Day 3)

This morning I woke up pretty late, in order to catch up some sleep, as the day before I had booked the onward bus ticket to Riga, this left me enough time to relax a little bit. To reach the bus station from my hostel, I had to take a tram towards the new town area, and then change another bus to reach there, as most bus stations in Europe are located out of the city center area.

The bus to Riga was late, but surprisingly I met a small group of Hong Kong travellers who are heading to the same place.

"You are from Hong Kong?" I asked.

"Yes" They replied. "Oh I see, me too. When did you arrived in Tallinn?"

"Oh, two days ago." He replied.

"Really? I guess we must be on the same Finnair flight, right? Did you also fly that 20 minutes Helsinki - Tallinn flight as well?" I asked.

"Er... no, actually, we took the ferry instead." He replied.

"Oh I see. You know, what I did is I took the latest Helsinki - Tallinn flight of the day, so it still counts as a stopover. This allow me to have a whole day to tour Helsinki. As a result, that flight is basically free." I answered. "Anyway, how long are you planning to stay in the Baltic, and what are you travel plans?"

"After Tallinn, we plan to go down to Riga, and then to Vilnius, and then fly back to Helsinki and back to HK." He replied.

"Oh, I see. For me, I plan to stay a few days in Riga, afterwards, get a tour of Sigulda National Park. Then, I will head to Siauliai to see the Hills of Crosses, and then to Klaipeda and the Curonian Spit. After that then I head to Vilnius. You know, there are lots to see in Lithuania, should be a very beautiful country." I replied. "After the trip, I will continue to the UK to visit friends before heading back to Hong Kong. Anyway, is this your first time to Europe?"

"For me, no, but for my friends, they are." He replied.

By the time, the bus finally arrived, and commenced the six hours journey south towards Riga, Latvia. Inside the coach, there sit besides me an old Italian man who was also travelling by himself. Surprisingly, I got to know that he had been to China and Hong Kong many years ago and we had a brief talk about his trip. Amazingly he also knew some friends in Hong Kong as well!

"How did you like China and Hong Kong?" I asked.

"Really good experience. In China, I had travelled to Beijing, Xian, Sichaun, Guilin, etc... but yet it was very difficult to travel in a place where nobody speaks English. It was extremely difficult to get around. But yet, Hong Kong is different. People speaks good English there." He replied. "You know, when I was in Hong Kong, I stayed with a friend in Repulse Bay."

"Oh really?" I answered. "A really rich area!"

As the bus travel south, it passes through the town of Parnu, a small student town located in southern Estonia. It looks really nice with many young Estonians enjoying the sunshine beneath the river. However, for me I began to feel hungry and thirsty. Actually, very hungry and thirsty to a point that I nearly go fainted.

"Hey friend, you know, I was really hungry. I have forgotten to buy snacks and drinks on the bus and it will be a six hours bus ride in bright sunlight." I begged, and felt angry at myself that I didn't buy any food or drinks for the bus ride.

"I have a sandwich, you want to have half of it?" The Italian friend asked. "Are you sure?" I replied. "Yes, sure. Have it. You are hungry, right?"

Indeed I took half of the sandwich and ate it. After that I felt much better. (though it was without drinks.) However, I vowed to myself that whenever I travel long-distance on a bus or a train, I will make sure I have enough drinks and food with me. As the bus continues south, we finally arrived at the border and within minutes we entered Latvia. The passport checks were very brief, and with EU passport, we were pretty much waived through, while holder of non-EU passport had to get an entrance stamp.

Latvia looked very much different than Estonia, in that it felt much more rustic. While Estonia had more well-painted houses and well-managed countryside, Latvia seemed to be more dull in colour, with more abandoned houses and more yellowish apartment blocks, a little bit like stepped back in time. The bus made a brief stop at a gas-station and quickly I walked out and bought a drink.

Towards the last 100km to Riga, the road suddenly encounted roadwork, and then another one came, and then another 30 more. "Damn!" I shouted. "All these horrible stops and roadworks! With that, when will we arrived in Riga?" However, there was nothing I can do but to sit quietly and continue to enjoy the heat and the sunshine inside the bus. As the bus crawed slowly into Riga, more and more apartment blocks emerged, and after a six hours bus ride I finally arrived in Riga.

Riga, compared to Tallinn, has a big city feel. It was great to be able to get off this hot, stuffy bus. As I say goodbye to my Italian friend as well as the small group of Hong Kong tourist, I walked off quietly to the hostel.

(Pic Caption: 1. Gothic apartment buildings in Riga, Latvia. 2. A suspension bridge crossing the Daugava River in Riga. 3. Communist carving at a monument in Riga.)