The Wanderer

Well, I guess it had to happen eventually. After spectacular weather in Estonia, I arrived in Riga to find clouds and rain. And with Easter weekend upon us, nearly all the museums and other attractions are closed, which limits my inside options. The good news about rainy days in the Baltics is that all of the movies at the cinemas are in their original language (most of them are American films) with subtitles, so I can go to the movies without a problem.
Today I visited some of the few museums that were open (all but one are closed tomorrow, and about half of them today as well), and did some travel errands, arranging transport to Vilnius and Stockholm and doing a little planning. I will be heading down to Vilnius, Lithuania tomorrow to visit a friend there for awhile, but I will return to Latvia next weekend to catch the ferry to Stockholm.
Crossing the border from Estonia to Latvia was one of the easiest places I've experienced in awhile. The border guard just comes on the bus, collects everyone's passport, leaves, stamps them, and then off you go. And they even did both Estonian and Latvian immigration together, so there was only one stop. It's nice to be back in efficient Europe again. Hopefully the Lithuanian border is just as easy.
At the art museum today, I had to bite my tongue when I started to question the ticket lady about selling me two tickets instead of one. I guess I have been to so many countries this trip where you have to watch every move people make (especially those that are selling you something), and it is hard to lose the habit. So far in the Baltics, I haven't felt like that was necessary, and everything seems honest and straightforward. So I have to try to rein in my tendency to question everything. I can't afford to lose my edge, thought, as I will be back in South America in a few more weeks. You almost have to have an entirely different travel style and personality when you change from Europe or North America to the developing world. If you use your Third World travel style in Europe or North America, you will probably not make too many friends, and you might get yourself into trouble. On the other hand, if you employ a First World travel style in Africa, South America, or Asia, you will pay four times too much for everything, get robbed a few times, and maybe end up in jail or the hospital.
I can definitely see why people are starting to discover the Baltic states. They have all the modernity and sophistication of Western Europe, and yet they retain an Old World charm that has all but disappeared in the more common European destinations. While they are not as cheap as Eastern Europe, they certainly carry a lower price tag than Scandinavia or the Mediterranean. It seems that a very high percentage of Estonians and Latvians are multi-lingual, which makes traveling easier, and many of the accommodations and restaurants are of high quality and good value.
I'm hoping for sun tomorrow, in which case you won't hear from me until Vilnius, but it's gloomy again, you may very well get another report. Have a good weekend.

Last night and today have been about sampling the local Estonian culture here in Tartu. Last night, my friend Triin took me to a local club, where the student population of Tartu was partying hardy, even though it was only Wednesday night. We took off at around 1am, since she had class early the next day, but the place showed no sign of slowing down. It was interesting to observe that in Tartu, unlike in most places, the girls in the club greatly outnumbered the boys. Good to remember.
Today, I got a little more refined version of the local customs as I visited the Estonian National Museum and the Tartu Art Museum. The National Museum has a permanent collection of items relating to Estonian culture and history, mainly dealing with early peasant life, as well as visiting exhibits. The visiting exhibits today were rather sparse, but the permanent collection was quite interesting, with numerous examples of traditional clothing and extensive explanations in English of customs and beliefs. The Art Museum was also worth a visit, as it has an interesting collection of Soviet socialist propaganda posters and Estonian art from various schools and styles. The Estonian art is arranged according to styles, such as realism, impressionism, surrealism, pop art, etc.
In a few minutes, I am off to the tiny town of Palamuse, population 600, where I will spend the night with Triin's family. Then I will head down to Parnu tomorrow, on the Baltic coast, where I will spend one day before venturing down to Riga, Latvia. Gotta go catch my bus, so I'll catch you later!

I arrived yesterday in Tartu, a university town about a quarter of the size of Tallinn. It is a quiet town on the banks of the Emajõgi River, with a more laid-back atmosphere than the capital. I have a friend's couch to stay on here, and access to the internet, so things are cheaper and life is good. I'm taking advantage of the internet access to plan my travels here in the Baltic states, and figure out how I will get to Sweden. At the moment, I am leaning towards a ferry from Riga, Latvia to Stockholm.
I am constantlysurprisedd at people who are willing to accept less than they deserve or less than what they have paid for. This issue came up again yesterday when I was out to eat with several young Estonians. When the orders came at the restaurant, three out of the five dishes were not prepared as they were ordered, either lacking something or having a different sauce than was ordered. The three people with the wrong order were obviously displeased, but they were reluctant to say anything or ask for a change. I suggested that they merely ask the waitress to add the toppings they desired (these changes were not difficult things to do, and would have taken all of thirty seconds), which they agreed was a good idea. Yet they did not do anything, and instead grimaced and ate their food as it was. I experienced the exact same thing with the group in Tibet, albeit on a much larger and more expensive scale. I don't know whether it is because people are accustomed to getting screwed or because they just don't want to hassle with it that they don't stick up for themselves, but I can't imagine it makes them happier to have to accept less. It would have been very easy to ask for the correct orders, but I have learned from my experiences with the group in Tibet that it is a thankless job to try to help people who won't help themselves. So unless it affects me directly, I don't want to interfere. Luckily, my order was correct, so I just enjoyed my meal and let it go. But I see this all over the world, especially when Europeans or North Americans aretravelingg in Third World countries (Estonia is not a Third World country -- these things happen in Europe and the States, too), that they just figure that the country is poor and the culture is different, so they should just accept it. I don't see why I should have to accept less than I agreed on. I am very flexible in terms of the quality and type of food and accommodation that I experience when I travel, but I always know what I am getting and settle on an appropriate price for it. So I am not saying that you should expect First World quality and service wherever you go, because you will be sorely disappointed if you do, but you should expect to get what you paid for. In many countries, people will make every effort to cut corners and give you less, so that they can pocket the profit (this is not the case here, but it definitely was in Tibet), and if you don't stick up for yourself, they will just keeping cutting until the service or product you receive is only a fraction of what you agreed on and should have received. This also happens in Europe and North America, but is more often a result of laziness or indifference rather than greed and a deliberate attempt to short-change the customer.
Please note that this rant should not reflect poorly on Tartu, as it is a very nice town, and Estonia in general is not a problem -- it just happened to bring up an issue that I have noticed on many occasions during this trip and previous excursions.

Estonia has a much nicer smell than most of the countries I have been in lately. I noticed this yesterday as I was walking around the Old Town of Tallinn. The air is crisp and clean, and smells like you are in the mountains rather than the city. Occasionally, you catch the scent of cinnamon and sugar from the stands selling coated almonds near the main square. This is a nice change. Russia was a lot better than India (not that difficult), but still not a pleasant experience for the nose, and Finland, although quite clean, was too cold to smell anything. Now that my nose has defrosted, I can appreciate the aromatic sights as well.
Estonia is definitely not a budget country, but it is much cheaper than Finland, a country that was a shock after three months of budget travel in Asia. I found a hostel here for about $11, and I have my own room, even though I paid for a dorm room (there is practically nobody there). You can also find cheap food if you hunt for it. Much cleaner and more modern than Russia, even though Russia was really clean and modern for a country with such a bad economy. I guess I would say Russia is probably about a Second World country, if there is such a thing. Estonia is definitely First World, and one of the more expensive places in Europe. I think Lithuania is supposed to be cheaper, but Latvia is about the same as here (at least according to the guidebook). Luckily, I have people I can stay with in Tartu and in Vilnius, so that should defray costs quite a bit. Accommodation, as always in Europe, is the most expensive thing.
Today was spent making travel plans, buying a bus ticket, getting my photos burned to a CD, and experiencing my first annoying hassle in awhile. The hostel I am staying at has a big group of people coming in tomorrow, so I will head off to visit a friend in Tartu, in southeast Estonia. I debated trying to go over to the island of Saaremaa, but I would rather travel at a little more relaxed pace, and I would have to rush if I went there first, so I decided against it. So I bought my ticket to Tartu, which was quite reasonably priced, and in doing so discovered that the bus station is a long way away from my hostel and the center of town. I forgot that there was a bus, so I was walking for awhile. I'm not sure exactly where the bus stop is for the hostel, so I have to go back on the No. 17 bus (not the one I usually take) to figure it out for tomorrow. Anyways, that's not what I really wanted to talk about.
Today I discovered that problems with the locals do not always go away in developed, modern countries. I spent a little while this morning trying to find a photo shop to download my photos and burn them onto a CD. I went into one of the larger chain stores I had seen around, and they said they could do it, but I wouldn't get it back until 7pm tomorrow, which will be too late. Besides, if it takes that long, then I knew they must be farming it out to someone else, so I asked them where I could do it faster. They directed me to another one of their shops about 10-15 minutes walk away. So I go there and I am told that it will be no problem, I can get the CD back in two hours. That sounded better, so I asked the price (ALWAYS ask the price first!), and the girl said 40 krooni, which is about $3.30, so I said OK. It's not as cheap as India and China, but I didn't really expect it to be. Then I remembered that I should make two copies, so I bought another CD for about $0.65. Then I hand over my memory cards and leave to go buy my bus ticket and do some e-mail. Well, when I came back, I was given back my memory cards, and she girl set the CDs on the counter and rang me up. I was more than a little surprised to see 120 Kr on the register, since I had been told 40 (plus the CD, so 48). I mentioned this, and was told that it was 40 for each of my three memory cards, even though they were all on the same CD. I protested and said that I was quoted a price of 40 for the process, not for each separate memory card. I tried explaining to them that it was the same amount of information being transferred, whether it was on three cards or one (if I had a 1GB card, then it would have been more information, but only one card instead of three). They told me "We had to put three different cards in, so it was more work." Bullshit. I have had CDs made from my digital camera on three or four continents and several countries, so I know what the price should be, and I told them so. So I told them that I didn't want the CDs if they were going to charge me that price. They then told me that I MUST buy the CDs, because they had already been burned. They threatened to call the police, and refused to take my 48 Kr. This threat might work with normal tourists, but I have listened to this crap in so many places that I am immune. Not that I was going to stick around and talk with the police, since I don't know how corrupt or honest Estonian police are. Luckily, I had already taken possession of my memory cards, so I just walked out.
I took my memory cards down the street and into a smaller shop with two friendly sales clerks. They happily downloaded my photos for half the price that the original place wanted to charge, and they only took 20 minutes instead of two hours. I was happy that the second experience with a photo shop was so easy, since it confirmed my belief that most Estonians are competent and friendly. I don't really think that the first photo shop was trying to rip me off, as they do in many countries, but it was probably more a case of language problems and not really knowing what they were doing. Oh well, the worst thing that came out of it is that I lost one CD and my CD case, that got left in the first photo shop. That's about $1.50, so I didn't really want to try to stick around and get them back if they were going to make problems.
I'll sign off for now. More from Tartu later.

Well, the last couple of days were too hectic to update my blog, so it's time to catch up. I crossed the border from Russia to Finland on Friday morning, and then spent Friday and Saturday in Helsinki with my friend Maija before taking the ferry to Estonia. I arrived in Tallinn, Estonia this morning, and have been exploring the old city on foot for most of the day.
The ferry was a great deal, by Northern European standards. I paid 20 euros (~$25) for the international passage and a berth for the night (the crossing only takes 3 hours and 45 minutes, but you can spend the night on the boat and disembark in the morning -- better than arriving late at night in a strange city), which is quite inexpensive for travel in Scandinavia, especially when you consider that a dorm bed in Helsinki would have cost the same amount. The ticket agent warned me that this was an inside berth with no window and a shared bathroom, apparently thinking this would be strange for me. In reality, it was much more comfortable than most of the trains I have been on lately (except that I didn't have a view), and there were showers -- a luxury! Compared to most of the boats I have been on in South America, Africa and Asia, this was a luxury liner, with clean sheets, towels, shampoo in the immaculately clean showers, and clean toilets with soap and toilet paper. I know that much of these things sound like ordinary and umimpressive things to those of you who are used to traveling in Europe and North America, but believe me, they are not standard fare in most of the world. I had the four-person berth to myself, so I had plenty of room for my luggage, and I could confidently leave the cabin and wander the ship, since I was the only person with a key. And I actually paid for a round-trip, so I suppose I might have been able to sell the return trip to someone and get a few bucks back, although I didn't really make much effort to do so.
I'm not sure of my exact schedule yet, but I think I will go over to Tartu on Tuesday to visit my friend Triin. I am also considering going out to the island of Saaremaa before going to Tartu, but I'm not sure yet. Either way, I will depart Tallinn on Tuesday, as the hostel I am currently staying in will fill up and there will no longer be room for me.