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!

Suomi /Helsinki/ (I)

近幾年去的地方都是“重遊”，很久沒有試過來到一個從未到過的地方那種新鮮感。今次的旅程除了Copenhagen之外，其他的都是以前未到過的，但在眾多未到過的地方，Helsinki是唯一一個是我獨個兒“登陸”的地方。

出機場的時候，我沒有很興奮的要擁抱Helsinki的感覺，可能是累，還是由於機場本身沒有令我太impressed！我不否認Helsinki是一個high tech的地方，例如他們會用手機做很多事，街上隨處都會見到QR Code(就是用手機相機拍下那個code，然後就會自動process顯示相關的資料；Gary說在日本很流行，但我好像未有在香港見過。)Anyway，滿以為這個Nokia的發源地手機網絡應該不賴，Well，個別網絡吧！(如有機會千萬別用那個叫Elisa的網絡！！)

Helsinki令我聯想起蘇聯(是蘇聯，不是俄羅斯)。可能因為之前Helsinki受過前蘇聯的統治，街上一些比較古老的建築都是灰灰啡啡的，是很共產的Style (而可能由於我剛讀完一本關於北韓的書，令我對Helsinki在這方面有一點點反感)！但Helsinki跟其他北歐城市一樣實而不華卻是一個事實，街上的人都很樸實，不會像某“發展中國家”的人那樣招搖過市。

  
Helsinki帶點共產色彩的建築

Helsinki的旅遊點其實不多，現在回想起都不知我怎可在那裡待上5-6天。不過印象較為深刻的有Helsinki Cathedral、Rock Church和Sibelius Monument。

23 Sep - 12 Oct : SCANDINAVIA

菲律賓

人質事件讓我重新認識菲律賓這個國家.

一直都知道菲律賓不是一個發達國家, 但從沒想過是一個如此荒謬的國家.

或許, 這些挾持事件在他們的國度無日無之, 他們已見慣不怪. 只是, 當生死就在咫尺之間, 即使他們與你素未謀面, 與你毫無關連, 你也不能(/不應)忍受生命在你手上一點一滴的溜走.

當地官員處理事件的手法令人啼笑皆非. 總統先生似乎覺得只死了區區幾個人已是一個了不起的成就, “不要忘記有多個人質成功獲救”. 對不起, 我真的無法接受如此一國之君這種視人命如草芥的態度. 還有那司法部長明言不會再向香港傳媒交代調查進展, 那副咀臉實在令人想一巴車過去.

前陣子每天公布的調查委員會與相關人士會面的進度, 有如娛記追訪藝人一般, 所爆出的內幕可以說是慘不忍睹: 甚麼裝備、部署、協調…. 所有可以出錯的地方都錯得離譜. 不知道當地政府對於這些“醜聞”有否感到羞恥. 面對各地傳媒的窮追猛打, 他們仍然可以若無其事, 談笑風生, 令人義憤填膺!

這些官員竟還膽敢指責特區政府越權、發出用詞侮辱的信件, 是跌落地拿ja沙, 還是要轉移視線, 我不敢胡亂猜度. 不過,菲律賓政府更應做的是實事求是, 專心做好他們的調查工作 (雖然經過這次事件我們實在難以對他們的所謂“調查”有甚麼期望), 不要再時不時出來做點馬騮戲, 貽笑大方.

由一班如此冷漠不濟的官員作領導, 是菲律賓的悲哀!

What does "Team Terry" mean?

It was appalling to see some Chelsea fans showing a "Team Terry" banner during the Chelsea-Man City game over the weekend.

For those of you who put up such banner, what kind of message are you trying to put across? Do you seriously approve of what JT did? Do you have no consideration whatsoever of WB's feelings?

OK, JT is an exceptional talent. He's a great captain and a great leader on the pitch. He was also sorta a victim thanks to the sensationalism in the British media.

But hey, he really did something wrong, didn't he?

I just hope people DO think twice before they say/do anything. You support a player alright, but you don't need to blow it up 1000 times just to stir up the rivalry. It's a lack of class.

Team Terry, what a shame!