Day 101 All about couch-surfing

I have been meaning to write this entry for a long time, ever since I got back from Riga and Stockholm in Easter. I want to write about couch-surfing, about this interesting community and what it takes to become a couch-surfer.

Couch-surfing is advertised as a cheap way of traveling. Free accommodation and your host to show you around the place, it's cheaper than hotels, hostels and may perhaps be safer than sleeping on the street, or railway stations, and more comfortable than sleeping in an airport.

But couch-surfing is SO MUCH MORE than all of these! Couch-surfing transforms the attitude of traveling, for backpackers and for normal travelers alike, it's not just seeing a strange and unfamiliar place from the outside, i.e. going to all those tourist attractions, take photos and show your friends you were there, It's all about seeing the country from the inside, from the eyes of the locals. After all, it's the people, as much as the landmarks themselves, that makes the place memorable.

I was fortunate to have Ieva as our CS host.
(Photo: Ieva, at home.)

Just by talking to Ieva made my trip to Riga memorable. I like hearing what she has to say about her country and her opinion about life, and I think (it seems) that she likes to hear me talking about my home country and all the places I have been. It is all the sharing and giving that makes the experience so unique. No other CS hosts are the same. All of the are different (that is what I heard from Boon Sun), so maybe next time I go to Riga, with another CS host, I will get a totally different experience!



The CS community seems very out-of-the-box, but when you think about it, it is just an organization, or a platform for travelers to gather together and share their experience. It brings people closer, dissolve all the stereotype misconceptions and provides a common ground for people of all kinds to mingle. It doesn't promote globalization (in a way that we thought all things nowadays do), it promotes the difference in culture and helps us to accept and embrace each others' culture.

But not everyone can be a couch-surfer, or let's put it, not everyone can discover their couch-surfing side of personality. What I mean is, when you are in a totally strange place, your mentality is different, you become more protective than you would ever have imagined yourself to be, i.e. believing that everyone stares at you on the street because you are not from here, panicking and thinking if it is a good idea to travel, and thinking, oh god, what if they are racists?

Couch surfing lets you to a deeper understanding of the place and of the world. What does CS feels like? Think of traveling, and times what you get from traveling by 1000. Couch surfing needs guts. Guts to open up to another culture, to a stranger. Guts to talk to people of entirely different beliefs. Guts to stay in a stranger's place. Guts to be introduced to an entirely different way of living. That is what CS is all about. Going beyond your comfort zone.

On a closing note, I have to say, CS, to me, feels like a soul-searching experience. My CS experience let me take a break from my own way of living and thinking, and pulls me out of my own whirlpool of what-is-the-right-way-to-live-your-life. I really have Ieva to thank for this amazing journey.

Ieva said that she will be lazy to go travel around the world because now the world (all the travelers from around the world) is coming to her! I am hoping she can come to Hong Kong soon so I can take her around!

Day 87 Leaving Riga to Stockholm

Today is my last day in Riga. Thank you Ieva for hosting us!


There are a few things I notice about Riga.

1. This place is full of Graffitis! Almost every wall I see, there are Graffitis on them! Either the government doesn't care or it is quite tolerate to this.



2. Streets are more interesting than in Helsinki. There are street musicians and beggars with dogs!



All in all, there is just something in Riga that makes it so attractive. I don't know the right words to describe it but it's a kind of feeling that you suddenly have when you walk pass alleyways, talk to Latvians in restaurants and stores, ask for directions on the streets, hear street music or spot Graffitis on the walls. Riga is such a cool place. I would really really want to return there some day!

Next stop, Stockholm!

Day 86 Riga in pouring rain

Weather on the third day in Riga was really bad. It was cold, raining and there were water puddles everywhere! I realized that I was wearing the wrong pair of shoes, they were soaking in rain the minute I walked outside.

There was this place called Andrejsala, where it was supposed to be a place where we can see emerging artists and other artistic stuffs. But turned out, there was nothing there, and I made us walk under the rain for about an hour, probably not a very good decision. It was quite an uneventful morning. I decided that my feet would feel better if I sit indoors and relax, so I met with Rose and Hugo at a restaurant and began hopping from bars to tea-houses all afternoon.


(Photo: In a tea-room, where we played snakes and leaders. A not so brain-exhausting game.)

(Photo: The sky-line bar. We could see almost the entire Riga from above. It would be really nice if the weather was fine!)

As we were going from bars to tea-rooms, we passed by quite a few handsome looking embassies!



And of course some neighborhoods have even more graffitis than others.
(Photo: hehe... show em' gangster style!)

We decided that we would go to inside Riga's famous cathedral, called the Dome, and listen to their 4th largest organ. We went there and a woman at the door said that the concert has already started 50 mins ago and only 5 mins remaining. And if we still want to go in, we need to pay. Of course, we weren't stupid enough to pay for only 5 mins of organ music. We asked if we could stand outside the door and listen, but the woman said we couldn't. Hm... Christianity and the generosity.

Feeling a bit disappointed, we went to a really nice restaurant to have dinner.


Then after, we met up with Ieva and listened to some free Church music. It was so beautiful! I now think I love listening to people singing in the Church. I think it's the echo and the empty spaces that makes the music sound so much more mysterious and attractive!



Back at home, Ieva had some surprises waiting for us, we learnt how to make Latvian Easter eggs!

(Photo: According to Ieva, Latvians don't paint eggs or anything, they attempt to make patterns on the eggs with leaves, cotton strings and onion skins!)

What we did was wrap leaves around the egg, use strings to tighten them and leave them to boil water with natural red dye (of red onion skin).

(Photo: And they come out with patterns on the shell!)

Day 84 Leaving for Riga!

It's not a generalization when I say that the majority of people in Hong Kong doesn't know about Riga. If you ask anyone about Riga back home, they would ask you, where the H. is that place? And then, when you say, it's in a country called Latvia, and I have been there, they will look at you in a weird way, and say, wow, you're brave.

Going to eastern European countries is not common back home. Why? I suspect that it's because it's close to Russia, so the common perception is those places are dangerous. And there wasn't a lot of "promotion" about those places in traveling agencies (maybe they are not the real money-makers). So Eastern European countries are left unexplored and somewhat neglected by us.

But seriously, coming from a person who has been on exchange for 84 days, I would say, don't judge a country by its rumors! Riga turns out to be a very attractive place!

We flew by Air Baltic at around 4pm on March 31st. The plane was amazingly small. It is as if it is a private jet, but cramped with a bus-load of people.

(Photo: This is how tiny the plane is. The height of the wheel only reaches my knees.)

(Photo: Look at the guy on the right, he doesn't seem very comfortable! Luckily, my Asian genes made me short. I bet if you pack a bunch of Asians on this plane, there's even room for soccer!)

(Photo: The view of Riga from the plane. I hope I didn't photograph any secret government military airfield! Too much spy movies!)

We arrived in Riga, happy that it was a very sunny day. We then made our way to Ieva's home by bus at the Central Station.

(Photo: This is the bus stop near Ieva's apartment.)

(Photo: Ieva!)

(Photo: We then had a lovely greek salad at Ieva's place!)

Day 85 Exploring Riga

First day in Riga, and we decided that we should go to Jūrmala, which is about 30-40 mins away from the city centre by train.

(Photo: The train, and by the look of the interior, it is quite modern.)

On the way to Jūrmala:



We arrived at Jūrmala quite early, at around 10 in the morning. The place was really quiet. And mostly because this is not summer time, there were not a lot of tourists swarming the place.

(Photo: See? no one at all!)

We went in a Bistro, and had pancakes and coffee. They were good!


(Photo: I was very happy to see that the portion size is sensible. Most restuarants serve huge portion sizes, which is quite ridiculous for a one person meal. I am glad that this Bistro is not Americanized.)

(Photo: The beach. Still some snow on it! We had a small picnic on the beach and left at around noon.)

We then went to some tourist attractions in old Riga. And by the time we were in old Riga, the weather was getting worse and worse. The sky was dark and gloomy, it started to rain. But here are some of the attractions that we passed by:

(Photo: The freedom monument)

(Photo: The cat house)

(Photo: St Peter's Church)

(Photo: The Museum of the occupation of Latvia)