World Cup 2018

Unlike the English media and footballing circle who are completely incensed and understandably hugely disappointed, I'm not really bothered where World Cup 2018 will be staged. I mean of course I do have a soft spot for England, but that's not the point. The mystery is, how Russia outbids England (and, for that matter, other candidates).

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Terry Venables said it all and I can't agree more with him.

"FIFA led us to believe the bidding countries would be judged on things like stadiums, IT networks, transport links, hotels, training facilities and communications. That was clearly not so. After all, who in their right mind would score Russia above England in any of those categories? To do so, would be farcical, as anybody who has ever been beyond the old Iron Curtain would tell you."
 

...

"If the aim by FIFA all along was to give 2018 to a nation that had never held a World Cup before then fine.I just wished they would have told us and the FA at the outset. It would have saved us £15 million and a lot of heartache.

Instead, the selection process became a charade - in fact a complete and utter sham.England never got the 2018 World Cup, because we were never going to get it."

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I don't believe for a minute that BBC's Panarama has anything to do with England's bid falling apart. I haven't watched the programme, but whoever thinks the prog is a scam can always provide counter-evidence to fend for himself. And if FIFA is upset because their integrity and reputation are tarnished (which are constantly under fire anyway), stand up and put their case forward.

Simple.

Why and how Russia and Qatar are preferred to England, Australia, the US or whoever is completely beyond me (or in fact everybody). I'm not all for big and powerful countries. And as Venables has remarked, it's ok if FIFA were prepared to award the hosting right to a first-timer. What's the point of all the evaluations then? It just seems, from what I've read on the news, that the England's delegation was blindsided and was made to believe that they were the favourites - only to discover they've got a meagre 2 votes, one of which was from a fellow countryman!

Now the question is - based on what criteria were these votes cast?

現代的港式婚禮

從北歐回港之後, 有幸獲邀出席幾個婚禮.

婚禮一般沒有特定的形式, 都是隨主人家的喜好/宗教而定, 豐儉由人. 不過港式婚禮都有幾個不可或缺的環節.

不知從哪時開始, 接新娘的時候有 "玩新郎" 的傳統. 記憶中小時候, 三姨四姨出嫁時, 沒有甚麼姊妹團, 都是在大門口由女親友就 "開門利是" 馬馬虎虎地議價一番完事. 而"玩新郎" 環節則在酒樓晚宴時進行.

越大越覺得 "玩新郎" 不知可accomplish 或證明些甚麼. "開門利是" 是為拿個意頭, 都勉強叫做說得過去. 始終, 中國人甚麼都講意頭. 至於 "玩新郎", 我越想越覺得不知所謂, 不知是哪來的傳統. 除了 "得啖笑", 實在的目的應該沒有, 而當中玩的遊戲部分又帶點嘔心, 常涉及一些令人難堪的舉動, 又或是以折磨兄弟團為最終目的. 近年, "玩新郎" 遊戲的製作越趨 "認真", 姊妹團在事前要開會, 絞盡腦汁為難兄弟團, 又要為遊戲準備各式道具. 恕我愚昧無知, 個人覺得有關活動勞民傷財, 卻沒有serve到甚麼purpose.

有次跟外國朋友談起, 原來香港這個 "玩新郎" 環節都頗為 notorious, 連我這個朋友都略知一二, 還語帶諷刺地揶揄一番. 我絕對可以想像到在外國人眼中, 這個所謂 "傳統" 是多麼的可笑, 因為我都有同感. 台灣朋友亦指出當地並無類似環節, 接新娘一般都是一家人熱熱鬧鬧聚在一起, 新郎新娘奉茶拍照. 香港的傳統從何而來, 不得而知.

今時今日的婚宴活像一場show, 必定會有MC. 感覺上好像扭曲了婚宴的原意, 令宴會本身變得兒戲. 當然, 我明白現今這一代希望令婚宴的氣氛輕鬆一點, 不像以往的拘謹, 但也不一定要放下底線 (可能是我思想保守), 吃一兩道菜就要抬頭欣賞新人天才表演/看片段/聽致謝辭/抽獎/玩遊戲, 實在令人吃不消. 另一個不知何時興起的指定動作是在晚宴中播放成長片段, 就是一對新人呱呱落地到長大成人的硬照 slideshow, 然後加插兩人圖文並茂的 "相識經過". 想深一層, 片段實無助賓客進一步認識一對新人, 而將一些陳年舊照供諸同好亦非我杯茶, 個人認為是另一勞民傷財之作.

近年還流行送結婚紀念品, 多是一些沒甚麼用的擺設, 或是印有一對新人照片的東西 (但很明顯不會用). 食物好一點, 吃過就算. 把紀念品留在桌上不帶走不好意思, 帶回家又要找地方安置 (最後可能都是垃圾桶) 所以說, 主人家不送紀念品又怕人說寒酸, 送了客人又未必會衷心感謝, 兩面不討好.

婚嫁習慣隨時代演變, 但變成現在這個樣子不知是好是壞. 我自己傾向追求簡單的儀式, 繁文縟節可免則免. 畢竟, 我希望賓客好好享受整個過程, 而不是要為求婚禮 "符合既定的程序" .

Scandinavia / Baltic Afterword

1. You can definitely get around with no problem using English in Scandinavia even though they all have their own languages. Swedish (and Danish) are pretty similar to German so if you know some German, you can sometimes relate. Finnish is always the odd one, as is the country itself. (Bless them!) We didn’t have much problem in Tallinn with English either though you gotta be prepared that shopkeepers in the kiosks usually don’t speak English. In Riga, I’ll have to say its 50-50. Even in the Old Town or city centre… don’t expect they speak English, especially older people. The younger generations are often ok though. It’s quite a funny experience now that I come to think of it - that you can understand absolutely nothing on the streets in any one of the places we’ve been to. We’ve become illiterates. Now who says English is an international language?!
   
   
2. Euro is a no go, whether in Scandinavia (apart from Finland of course) or the Baltics. In Tallinn’s Old Town, about 90% would take Euro, apart from a few street hawkers. It might be helpful to have some spare Estonian Kroons just to be sure. But you might just get by with Euro there. Riga? Absolutely not. I haven’t seen anywhere in the whole city that takes Euro. And since Latvian Lats are not exactly the most popular currencies in the world, you might need to exchange it in some bank or exchange shop. I would imagine souvenir shops and bigger restaurants in Sweden and Denmark to take Euros, but the conversion rate would probably be hugely inflated. So it would be better to have the respective currencies ready or otherwise rely on your plastics (which I did especially in Sweden when I ran out of cash).
   
3. Our trip this time was literally flooded with daily lattes and hot chocolates. The late Sep/early Oct weather was not exactly warm. What’s better than enjoying a cuppa in a nice cosy café to keep yourself warmer? I don’t think I have ever intensively had hot choc every day for 3 weeks in a row. And sometimes even more than one in a day! (Hopefully not gonna be reflected on my weight! LOL) Gaz has become the latte expert and me the hot choc expert. He came to the conclusion that the best latte came from a little bar/cafe in Riga (where we only went out of our desperation for the free WIFI available) I haven’t made up my mind for the best hot choc mainly becos I didn’t pay too much attention. But the one in a Helsinki café called “Java” was quite nice. Another one served in a tiny back alley café near the Tallinn City Museum tasted good too.
    
4. After the whole trip, I went through googlemap again to re-learn all the names of the sights/places we’ve been to. Reading maps is a sign of masculinity – or so I found out! Never doubt a guy’s map-reading skills even though you’re sure he’s wrong and don’t ever try to offer to take a look at the map even when you’re lost. Since I wasn’t the one reading the maps during our journey, I only have a vague orientation of the cities we visited. But it’s really fun to be able to point at places on the googlemap and think “been there, done that!”
   
   
   
   
   That’s a wrap - the trip of my life so far :) Not really possible to put down every single thing we've been through, but the memory stays - in my head :)

Danmark /København/ (II)

Apart from getting properly smashed, another first in CPH was cycling in town. If we don’t count the lame cycle tracks in Shatin, I really can’t say I’ve ridden on a bike properly as a means of transport.

Of course, if it weren’t for Kev, I would NEVER dare to risk my life like that. I mean seriously, CPH residents are all pros when it comes to cycling. While I was shakily navigating my way, hoping not to bump into anybody (or anything for that matter), they just whished passed me like a gasp of wind! And one thing I don’t understand is how they can balance themselves without sitting on the saddle. That’s probably how they avoid a painful bum with all the cobbled streets. The bumpy roads didn’t go too well with my butt I have to say!

I also got confused as to which way to look at. I mean first thing first, we’re cycling on the WRONG side of the road, as is the whole of Europe apart from Britain :) That’s Challenge No.1. No.2 was I didn’t know which light to refer to. I don’t understand how sometimes we could beat the light and sometimes we must wait patiently for it to go green. Again, if it weren’t for Kev, I would probably be dead meat.

Something funny happened while we were choosing a bike for me at the shop. I was shit scared and had to make sure my feet could touch the ground whenever I wanted to. But the fact that most Danes are quite tall meant that all the bikes I tried on were too high for me. In the end, the only one that suited me was a bike for kids, which was indeed a bit embarrassing (and the shopkeeper and Kev were like… you serious? You really want that?!) 

 

It was actually quite a fun experience minus the backside discomfort (and in perfect sunny weather even!) A whole different angle to enjoy a city. Just gotta look out for yourself and not get run over by the traffic! Ha :)

Danmark /København/ (I)

Finally came to our last stop *sob* Time always flies by quickly when one’s on holiday. I have to acknowledge, though, that my trip ended in a high because of this wonderful city (and company of course!). To come to Copenhagen again after 4 years has completely changed my impression on the Danish capital.

The Friday night out in Copenhagen was madness. (Remember the previous night we were out in Malmö for the Balkan music night until 3!) I gotta put CPH in my top 3 night out – not that I have too many to start with!
 

Nyhavn in daytime

Kongens Nytorv

We started off with a drink at Nyhavn. It is a lovely spot to chill – both during the day and in the evening. A bit quiet though for a Friday night. Perhaps we were too early and people were still having supper. After a light sample of alcohol by the harbour, we proceeded to a posh restaurant/bar where Kevin works. It was packed with people (Welcome to Friday night in CPH!) We had to settle for a drink outside in the cold (away from the heater – as the tables round the ONLY heater were all occupied!) Andreas brought us some coffee (with a high dose of Bailey in it) and we ordered some drinks.

 

                                      Delicacies @ Victor Cafe
 
Finally got offered a table inside at around 10. By then we were starving and were desperately in need of food after all the alcohol consumption. Food arrived (very delightful food I must add!!) and more drinks. I am trying to recall when I had – some cider, white wine, 2 Fernet-Branca (an Italian mix which tasted like disgusting Chinese herbal medicine cum mouthwash, oh YUCK!), some more coffee with (excessive) Bailey, some beer (maybe?). I’m sure the guys had a few more than I did. It was all a bit of a blur anyway because Kevin’s workmates kept bringing us drinks and more drinks.

CPH is sooooo pretty

By the time we stepped out of the restaurant, it was maybe 1-ish and I could hardly balance myself. And I really mean it when I say that. My head was spinning and I had to hold onto the guys to walk. (The guys seemed to cope not bad but were obviously a bit tipsy too!) We entered the sports bar (same owner as the restaurant in which Kevin works) next door and I said to the guys I was done for the night. No more drinks for me. I faintly remember bumping into a random guy in the Ladies Room. And then somehow, Kevin managed to get me home (with a lot of dragging and balancing I presume!) He even told me to climb up all the stairs to the top of the building when he only lives on the 1/F. He is one cheeky monkey! My mind was lucid the whole way but I could hardly control my legs. They just went all wobbly. And the last thing I remember was dropping dead in bed with my head still spinning…

That probably sums up my first night in Copenhagen. But truly, we all had a blast!

Sverige /Lund + Malmö/

Lund, located in southern Sweden, is a university town. Half (or even more) of the population is students so I can imagine it being really quiet during summer.

To be honest, there is not much to see in Lund. If it wasn’t for Gary’s friend 

Lund's city library

who's doing his PhD there, we probably won’t bother to make the 5-hour train journey from Stockholm. Interestingly, the nearest (proper) airport to Lund is Copenhagen. I guess a lot of people see Lund as some sort of a stopover between CPH and Stockholm, just like us.

The only time it rained during our 3-week journey was in Lund. Other than that, we had really wonderful weather every day.
 

Lund Cathedral

On our last night in Swedish soil, we went to Malmö (about 20 mins by train from Lund) for some uni event – a Balkan Music Night. Basically an excuse for live bands and cheap(er) booze. It was a bit wild. Since everybody there was uni students, we felt completely over-aged and out of place! HAHA… uni seems such a distant concept to us! We hang out until 2-3 ish and that was our first late night during the whole trip (more to follow in CPH =.= )
I wish I could see Malmö properly. After all, it's the third biggest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg. Heard it's meant to be famous for some constructions and shopping! Now my impression of Malmö was some Iraqi driving school and middle eastern carpet repair centre. It's kinda vague after all the alcohol consumption!!

Sverige /Stockholm/ (III)

Gamla Stan Subway

Gamla Stan: Gamla Stan, literally means “Old Town”, is a really cosy little place for a pleasant walk. It feels a bit like Tallinn’s Old Town, but not as medieval. All the narrow pathways bring you surprises round the corner every time. For some reason, we always thought there would be a never-meant-to-be market in Gamla Stan, so we’ve been pretty much walking back and forth.

Kungliga slottet: The Royal Palace - nothing much spectacular. I remember some cannons and an inverted flag. That’s all. And it was super quiet for a Sunday morning!

 
Kaknästornet: A TV Tower in Stockholm where you can pay to go up to the top for a city view. Not bad, but very very windy!

                           Some amazing views up Kaknästornet

Skansen: The first open-air museum in Sweden. Somewhat similar to the old 集古村 in Ocean Park – meant to show the way of life in different parts of Sweden. Since we were there on an Autumn weekday, it was pretty quiet. A few tourists here and there, but not much of the museum bits were opened. Bear fights and reindeers available.

 Skansen and bear fight!

Nobel Museum: One of the museums I really love. 
We picked the day and time (Well, it picked us - Tuesday 5pm free of charge) to be there when the press release of Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was freshly printed out! Watched some old interviews of Nobel laureates. I was particularly impressed with the awardee (sorry, forgot his name) who discovered laser in the 60s talked about how laser could be widely used in different fields in the future – exactly how we’re using it today!

Visiting the Nobel Museum is definitely a very humbling experience – starting from Alfred Nobel himself, who selflessly used his wealth to establish the Nobel Prizes, to all the modest laureates who dedicated/dedicate themselves for the well-beings of mankind.

Sverige /Stockholm/ (II)

Mojo's Angels reunion
in Stockholm

After spending our first morning in Gamla Stan, we met up with Sofie at Central Station and began our venture out of central Stockholm to visit Nina in Haninge.

I met Sofie and Nina in Australia in 2006. The 3 of us travelled from Alice Springs all the way down to Adelaide and further on to Melbourne with another German girl Fabienne. We 4 girls went down Stuart Highway on a 60-seat coach and were nicknamed “The Mojo’s Angels”. LOL… Good old days! So it’s almost 5 years and how things changed! Nina was single when I met her and now she’s a mum of 2! Lovely juvley!

Anyway, what I wanted to say is Gaz and I felt SO GOOD cos we make our 3-day metro pass worth by venturing into one of the suburbs!! HAHA :D

Nina’s house is really posh! And she has the most beautiful kids – Olivia and Algot. They are angels! We spent the afternoon chatting away and admiring her house! Dinner was served with reindeer meat and mushrooms hand-picked by Sofie! Yummy yummy :)

Nina cooked us yummy dinner

A BIG thank you to Nina and Sofie for their warm hospitality. We both had such a relaxing afternoon.

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Met up with Sofie again the next evening. She took us to a roof-top bar near Södermalm and bought us drinks! It was a nice view up there, I won't deny, but for somebody who has been living in a city of skyscrappers all her life, it was not exceptionally spectacular - if you know what I mean. But anyway, it's really thoughtful of her! We walked from Södermalm all the way back to Hötorget after dinner. I bet it took us like an hour or more~! But we were chit-chatting away so it didn't feel that long.

Really grateful Sofie was there with us! So very kind of her indeed!

All of us on the roof-top bar

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Nina took the trouble to bring along Algot and met up with us after taking Olivia to kindergarten the day before we left for Lund. We met up at the butterfly house in Haga Park. I have to confess I really was not too enthusiastic about going there. But someone really wanted to go, so I thought ok then. The butterfly house didn't disappoint at all. We went into this humid and warm greenhouse where butterflies of different colours were nursed - some resting on the leaves, some sucking nectar, some just flying around etc. It was really cool and I took tons of pictures!

But it didn't go down too well with Algot. In the end, the heat/humidity was too much for the little babe :( To be honest, we were all sweating like hell so it was such a relief to go back out to cool fresh air outside!

Some amazing shots in the butterfly park:

Sverige /Stockholm/ (I)

Leaving Riga was not without drama. Blame Ryanair! I paid for a 20kg luggage but somehow the system showed I only paid for 15kg. [And I later found out something must have gone wrong becos I really only paid for 15kg – same thing happened to many other people on our flight who claimed to have selected 20kg but ended up paying for 15] So we had to re-pack my suitcase right in front of the check-in desk as many others did who flew with Ryanair. Luckily, Gary’s bag had some more room for a few more kilos so we shared the loads. What’s ridiculous was you’re actually allowed a 10kg hand-carry bag! But only one bag - no matter if it’s lady’s handbag or suitcase. It has to be 1 item only. So if you have a huge IKEA bag, for example, you can stuff it with 10kg! Sorted… and my hand-carry almost exploded!

Sergels Torg

Arriving in Stockholm felt good – I won’t lie. It was a relief to be back to a big city finally, where I could just melt into the crowd. I got so much looks when I was in the Baltics, especially in Riga. I reckon I saw less than 10 Asians during my 3 days there. We wouldn’t have to look over our shoulders anymore in Stockholm. And what’s more uplifting than being able to drink from the tap again! When we were at the Baltics, you couldn’t ask for tap water at a restaurant. Because, as we were told by a waitress in Tallinn, they “couldn’t guarantee the water quality”. It did really help when bottled water here cost more than HK$20! 
 
Now something that needed adjusting to was the price. HOLY CHRIST! We were so used to all the good food and cheap prices in the Baltics now we had a hard time! A 3-day metro pass and our first night dinner at Stockholm cost me already half the Swedish Krona I brought =.= Gonna rely on plastics in Sweden!

Latvija /Rīga/ (II)

A few things I’ve noticed during my time in Riga:

1. Riga is famous for massage. (Actually, Tallinn is famous for that too, it seems, but it’s even bigger in Riga) So we felt obliged to at least enjoy a nice relaxing massage at the hotel to give ourselves a little treat. I chose the “honey massage” therapy and it proved to be a grave mistake! I’ll explain how honey massage works in the hotel – first, the masseuse applies red-hot honey on me. And then she starts tapping (not massaging!!) on my skin. After maybe half a minute, the honey becomes sticky. So while the masseuse was tapping, it felt as if I was being constantly waxed! *OUCH* It’s the worst “massage” I have had - if you can really call it a massage when all you get is being tapped!! I should have followed Gaz and just picked a normal, regular, classic therapy! DAMN!
   
   
2. Something we realised not long after we were in Riga was the lack of aintenance in the city. Literally everywhere inside the Old Town and around the city centre, you see old deserted buildings and houses that are no longer occupied/used. But nobody bothers to tear them down or repair them or do something to them. They are left standing there like they are part of the scenery. One extreme example is the pavement right outside Stockmann, a massive modern department store in the city centre. The crossings right outside Stockmann are as busy as the ones outside SOGO. But none of the bricks on the pavement is “intact” – so to speak. There are always corners missing or cracks here and there or worst of all,the whole brick missing! You have to really watch your steps while you walk. Such an extreme merely a few steps outside a glamourous department store. Guess this country just do not have the funds to fix this kind of not-so-important flaws?!
   
   
3. People in Riga (or even Latvia) must be crazy for football. While we were flipping through the TV channels in the hotel, there were always 2 to 3 channels showing football, mostly Russian football we guessed. We even had live feed from the Europa League! Wish we had the same thing in Tallinn. We missed Valencia v MU the other night. Nowhere, apart from pubs/bars in the Old Town (but it was too dark and we didn’t feel safe to go there at night), showed the game!!
   
   
4. Riga is also famous for stag parties (due to the cheap prices I would presume). Consider a dinner at our 4* hotel (a glass of wine + 2 main courses + 2 desserts) cost only like 50e (with a stunning panoramic night view as well), it’s really a heaven for a stag. I have to say, though, those people were really annoying! We happened to be in Riga from Thursday to Saturday. Starting from Friday afternoon onwards, we started to pick up some English and realised gangs of about 5-6 people shouting loudly (and randomly) on the streets. By the time we got back to the hotel, some English guys were having troubles with another gang, arguing and kinda pushing and shoving. Now, I have nothing against stags at all. I just wish they were more well-behaved and not taking the piss of other people who are trying to have a peaceful holiday. Gaz even said he was almost embarrassed to admit that he’s English!
   
   
5. People in Riga are really skeptical (which I feel have something to do with their communist past). They don’t trust people AT ALL. One day, we went to a small kiosk wanting to get some 24-hour bus pass. The vendor, who was an old lady, was literally “well-protected” inside the kiosk, sitting behind a little glass window. I tried to tell her we wanted to get some bus pass but she didn’t really speak English. A while later, she showed me a small paper card thingy and told me, I presume, a price (in Latvian). I held out my hand into the little pigeonhole, wanting to take a look at the card to see if it’s what we wanted. She held back the card and repeated a price (in Latvian) which I didn’t understand. I mean fair enough, but at least let me see what it is you idiot woman! The card wouldn’t cost more than HK$10, but still she just won’t trust us!
   
   
6. Another time we were at the Archive. We opened the door and there seated another old lady at the reception. Her face read – what on earth are you two - a Chinese and a white guy - doing in a Latvian Archive? And of course she didn’t speak English. We tried to explain to her we’re there to meet a researcher named so-and-so. It proved futile. She didn’t understand and gave us a look that said a middle finger. We kept repeating the researcher’s name, showed her the name in printing and still she would just say “No”. What the hell! After a while, she had finally decided to look for the researcher from the directory and BAM! found her!! Still, the receptionist won’t call the researcher herself. She just wrote down a number and Gaz had to call the researcher. WHAT STRANGE PEOPLE!!!!!
   
   

   

   Goodbye Riga!

   
   

Latvija /Rīga/ (I)

Our small plane to Riga

So… the journey from the Tallinn hotel to the airport was smooth (Remember we DID take the same bus halfway to the airport on our arrival!). Judging by how short the bus journey takes from the city centre to the airport, Tallinn is in fact quite small. And we arrived at the airport way too early we could have taken an earlier flight to Riga!

The reason why Riga came into the picture in the first place was solely because I found really cheap flights from Tallinn to Riga. That’s pretty much it! I knew nothing about the place and nobody told me anything about it beforehand. I remember timidly proposing Riga to Gaz only to (amazingly) find out there is actually Latvian blood in him! I swear it’s a complete coincidence! Therefore, as it turned out, part of the Riga journey was devoted to tracing his family tree at the Latvian National Archives which yielded interesting findings! We are certainly 2 very atypical tourists!

I thought Riga would be somewhat similar to Tallinn and didn’t expect much from it really. By the time the airport shuttle left the airport, I instantly spotted some differences. The first impression I got was Riga seemed bigger and a bit more prosperous (or maybe a bit busier) than Tallinn. But because of its seemingly bigger size and availability of space, it doesn’t feel as cosy.

 

Churches are many and varied in Riga town centre

Like Tallinn, there is a historic centre (or old town) in Riga as well. Unlike Tallinn, not much of the medieval city wall remains, though there are still old churches and houses everywhere. So, you would easily have strolled out of the old town unknowingly due to the absence of the city wall boundary.

Sadly, I can’t really say I thoroughly enjoyed Riga. Perhaps it’s because I had a really good time in Tallinn and in comparison Riga’s just not as great. I mean it’s certainly an interesting place to come to, which virtually applies to every new place one visits, mind you – to be bombarded by a brand new culture and all that, but what sums it up is, I’m afraid, the sense of insecurity there. We had random strangers coming up in broad daylight asking if we spoke English (we had no idea why and didn’t want to find out either) or mumbling things we didn’t understand. We almost had to constantly look over our shoulders to make sure things were ok while we were in town.

The highly recommended Museum of Occupation

I did, however, enjoy the Museum of Occupation even though it was not meant to be “enjoyable” – if you know what I mean. The exhibition in the museum was anything but that. It documented how Latvia was being occupied twice by the Soviets and once by Germany. A tragic past to say the least. I was deeply intrigued by all the exhibits. I cannot recall the last time I was in a museum where I read every single word on the descriptions. In the end, it almost became too much to bear and we both walked out of the museum with heavy hearts – all the more for Gaz because of his (new-found!!) Latvian connection.

Just a brief one on our visit to the National Archive. (I’ll try to be brief but so many things happened!!) Before the trip, Gary wrote to the Archive for info regarding his great-grandparents. After not hearing from them for days and been worrying sick, Gary was relieved when an email from a researcher at the Archive arrived while we were in Helsinki. We scheduled a time/date, met up with the researcher at the Archive and were handed highly-revealing info, including his great-grandparents’ marriage certificate, birth certificates etc. 

Freedom Monument, Riga

Originally, Gary was thinking just to meet up with the researcher, talk with her and see to the possibility of tracing some old info etc. When we turned up, the researcher has already prepared a pile of documents for him, each one officially stamped and translated (as most of the documents were in Latvian or Russian). That was wicked and we didn’t see that coming AT ALL!! After all the explanations by the researcher, just when Gary was about to suggest giving some donations to the archive… she told us there’s a cost to all those papers (TYPICAL!!) It cost a total of 53.38 Lats (about HKD$800 I think). Considering the efforts spent, it really was not a lot of money to be honest. It’s just that he was completely blindsided by the way things were handled.

Now the problem was they would only take cash. Since we were in Riga for less than 3 days, we didn’t have much Lats with us. The two of us emptied our pockets and came up with 53 Lats (really on the dot!). But can you believe it? The cashier looked at us and asked us for the 38 cents!! Gaz told her that was all we had and if she really insisted, we could go withdraw/exchange some money from a bank. Luckily, she let us go. *Phew*

We entered the Archive with our pockets half-full and came out of it all emptied! Ha… Surely a very eventful morning and definitely added up to part of our delightful Baltic adventure! To be honest, I am really grateful I was part of all this!

Eesti /Tallinn/

Tallinn is definitely a pleasant surprise. One of the many highlights in this trip!
 

Tallinn Old Town

Originally, we (or I) only planned to visit Tallinn because it’s really near to Helsinki (like 2 hours-ish by ferry) and it’s just one of the places people would drop by if you’re in Helsinki. Anyway, it turned out to be a damn nice little town. Love it immensely!

It was, as anticipated by the catamaran operator, a very windy morning! The Viking Line journey didn’t feel that long. “Somebody” insisted we made full use of the free bus to the city centre (I was more for taxi and getting rid of our luggages in the hotel asap). Anyway, so off we go – the 2 of us. We thought it’d be a special shuttle bus that takes us from the pier to the city centre. WRONG! It’s a normal public bus with its terminus at the airport. Now you know where the story’s heading – except that we haven’t quite make it to the airport before we realised the city centre was way behind us! Not a great start to our adventure!

Another snap of the Old Town Wall

Tallinn is basically all about the Old Town, where medieval relics and constructions are conserved. The Old Town is surrounded by city walls and towers. Most of the houses and towers have orange / reddish-brown roofs, so to a certain extent, it makes me think of Florence. One thing I regret not doing in Tallinn was climbing up one of the church towers to overlook the whole city. I just knew the city would make a magnificent spectacle from above.

A classic
orthodox church

The Old Town itself is not very big, but cosy enough. I guess one can walk from one end to another in roughly 20 minutes. You can easily navigate inside all the tiny little walkways. Everything is so close by - shops, cafes, museums, churches all pack neatly next to each other.

Outside the Old Town lies the “city centre”. I put the brackets because (a) we didn’t quite manage to see it properly (but we didn't really want to.. HA!) and (b) it’s nothing impressive really. I remember a few modern-ish arcades (can’t even call them a proper mall) and department stores and that’s it. I wouldn’t imagine anybody coming here looking for a modern capital so I’m not too bothered.
One thing you wouldn’t expect in the midst of all the medieval charms is free WIFI everywhere. Literally, the whole Old Town is wired which proves to be very useful for us tourists.

An Estonian appetiser
with ice-cold vodka

Another thing that doesn’t take long to get used to in the Baltics (especially after Helsinki) is the cheap prices! OMG! This is like heaven. Foodage is so cheap we eat like kings and queens. The first night we decided to opt for Estonian cuisines. We went to a “claimed” Estonian restaurant. But to be honest, I really can’t tell what’s special about it because they serve “normal” western food, like steak, lamb chops etc. Except for the appetiser Gaz ordered, which is sprat (a kinda fish similar to herring) on top of a piece of dark rye break plus, and not the least, a shot of ice-cold vodka. HAHA... But we did sample a seemingly Estonian dessert at dinner, which is made of some oats with yoghurt/cream and is surprisingly tasty!

The best lunch throughout the whole trip (as in throughout the 3 weeks!!), I have to say, was VAPIANO in Tallinn. It is a modern chain restaurant that serves pasta/pizza/salad but all the food is made-to-order right in front of you. So they are extra fresh. We came across the same restaurant in Stockholm, but prices are double!

All in all, I was entirely charmed by this little Baltic town of 400,000 people. Given the chance, I would definitely go back without a shadow of doubt. It was my first sampler of the Baltics which makes the journey all the more memorable. It might not be an ideal place to live I have to admit, but most definitely a perfect holiday getaway from the hustle and bustle of big cities. I loved every second of it. Highly recommended! (Just have to mind the chilly weather! Turns out it was the coldest place we've been to this time - even worse than Scandinavia!!)

Suomi /Helsinki/ (III)

Helsinki 的黃昏

常聽人說北歐物價高昂，我想Helsinki的物價仍然屬於可以接受的水平(到Stockholm之後才真正感受到“昂貴”二字的威力！！)。出外旅遊，尤其是到歐洲，是絕不可用香港的標準來衝量價錢的，畢竟香港的貨幣和物價與全球其他發達國家／地區比較是偏低的。不過，最肉赤的是某天在Helsinki一個較大的shopping mall去洗手間要付2e，足足20大元。我不明白為甚麼滿足／解決human nature需要付款，所以我們多數只會用餐廳／博物館的洗手間。香港好像沒有“付款去洗手間”這個文化；旅遊景點都算了，為甚麼連商場／車站的洗手間都要付款？唯一可取的是歐洲的洗手間大多maintain得很好，讓你可以安心“享用”。一個文化高低就體現於洗手間的整潔程度啦！

Helsinki的"美食"沒有給我留下太深刻的印象，可能我們沒有太刻意去找些好吃／有特色的地方。除了在Helsinki的最後晚餐吃了一頓不錯的Spanish/Mexican菜之外，其他的都頗難吃(晚餐來算，因為午餐都是吃三文治的多)。幸好我對吃也不太講究，所以都不至於太過disastrous。
 

往 Tallinn 的 Viking Line

小插曲：話說我們選了較平又較快(不知為甚麼)的雙體船到Tallinn，但就在我們離開Helsinki的前一天收到船公司的sms，說由於預計第二天會有大風大浪，所有到Tallinn的雙體船都取消了。我和Gary立即到碼頭了解，幸好，船公司安排我們轉乘Viking Line較大的cruise，才不致對行程有太大影響，不過船程比原來的要長一小時。

今次Helsinki之旅多得Niko讓我和Gary在他家留宿，雖然我發現我要再重新認識Niko這個人。他是一個對Helsinki，甚至是芬蘭很critical的人，可能由於他曾在美國／日本／西班牙等地居住過，所以對自己祖家反而看不順眼。但我發現他會很褒揚芬蘭的高科技成就 (e.g. high-speed internet, mobile phone technology etc.)，但對其他陰暗面就很偏激。其實，有時都要take the good with the bad 吧，不可只一味見高拜, 見低踩。不過，還是要多得他帶我們四處遊玩，又幫我們很多，所以抵我獎他一個月餅，還有普洱茶葉。

Helsinki Central Station

總括來說，我覺得Helsinki是一個hmm…應該說是比較沈悶的城市。雖然當中有些特別的旅遊景點，但整個城市好像沒有靈魂，平平無奇似的。沒有那種一說起Helsinki，就會頓時聯想起一種具代表性的東東，be it建築物、文化etc(除了姆明！哈哈！！但由一卡通人物代表一個首都…absolutely not something to be proud of!!). 芬蘭人(or Helsinki的人)又不像其他地方的人熱情，給我的感覺都是比較reserved和不善交際的(當然這只是在Helsinki幾天所得出的結論)。我不喜歡的還有那種跟現代化的Helsinki風馬牛不相及的“蘇聯感”，怪怪的，完全扯不上關係，跟Helsinki/Finland可以說是一個錯配(當然那可能也是Helsinki特色的一部分，只是我不appreciate)。

不過，如果在旅行一開始就來到climax，未免去得太盡。慢慢的start off in the middle，再 build up應會更樂在其中。

下一站Tallinn。

Suomi /Helsinki/ (II)

Helsinki Cathedral 與 bear bear 熊

Helsinki Cathedral是一所典型的Lutheran教堂，沒有鋪張的外觀，牆身是素白色，配上淡綠色的圓頂，非常典雅。我想，北歐之所以如此吸引人，就是這種單純的簡樸，沒有刻意要draw attention，但卻已在不經不覺間散發出一種“regal-ness”，與一般西歐的大城市截然不同。碰巧，Helsinki Cathedral所在的廣場正進行展覽，展示由不同國家設計的bear bear熊，高雅簡潔的座堂與廣場上色彩繽紛的bear bear熊形成了有趣的對比；各國的bear bear熊都充分展現了當地的特色，如古巴設計的bear bear熊咀裡叼著一根雪茄、美國的是很
out-of-style的自由神像等。

古雅的 Rock Church

Rock Church予人的又是另一種感覺。Rock Church顧名思義是由石塊砌成的，頂部則由無數銅片拼湊而成，走在裡面就好像回歸大自然的原始一樣，但又不失教堂應有的莊嚴。每次到這些旅遊景點，總有無數的遊客，當中又以亞洲遊客最為嘈吵。記得我在Rock Church時，有一團應是來自香港的遊行團，可能因為我聽得懂廣東話，所以覺得特別煩厭。其實，去得北歐旅遊的都算是中產吧，怎麼還是不尊重自己，不尊重別人？我不明白為何他們去到哪裡總是要吱吱喳喳的，

                                         大佬，在教堂都該收歛一下啦！

遠觀 Sibelius Monument

Sibelius Monument其實除了monument本身，周圍是甚麼都沒有的。不知最初為甚麼會選擇在某個suburb的某個公園內，擺放這麼一座monument！長短不一的銀色圓管拼在一起，有點像教堂內的管風琴，不過每條圓管上都刻有花紋圖案，是一件頗有特色的藝術品。算是到此一遊吧！

島上的慶祝活動

Suomenlinna是一座十七世紀的城堡，分布於六個島上，是瑞典政府(當時Helsinki被瑞典統治)為防禦當時蘇聯入侵而建成的。Anyway，我想說的是，本來我們沒有打算在當天遊覽Suomenlinna的，只是天氣實在很好，我們便改變原來計劃先到Suomenlinna。陰差陽錯之下，當日竟然是城堡建造人的三百冥壽！於是島上有各式的慶祝活動，連瑞典海軍／芬蘭海軍／政府政要都有到來獻花，又有鳴禮炮的儀式，熱鬧非常﹗

 
哈，unplanned surprises are usually the best!