Arriving in Vilnius

Vilnius - which recently took over the title of European Capital of Culture 09 from Liverpool. One that is no stranger to cultural events, activities and monuments. Starting with the UNESCO listed old town, the world famous annual Jazz festivals in Kaunas and summer parties that attract thousands of people to stream into this lovely little country.

The coach reached Vilnius bus station at 1940hrs but it felt more like 2345hrs as the bus bays were completely deserted. My hopes of meeting my host whom agreed to put me up did not turn up and I was keen to follow some of the guys in the group who seemed to be heading for a hostel. As I head to the main road, a chinese guy came up to me，“你好, 讲华语吗？“ he asked.

We chatted after and found out that we were staying in the same hostel in Riga and were on the same coach to Vilnius. I found out later that Xiao Bin is a mechanical engineer working for a chinese firm with half his time is based in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He has studied in Belarus and has been running around the Baltic states for a while (he has still yet to tell me why a Chinese will end up studying in Belarus)

Hearing that I was looking for a hostel, he recommended one in the old town that he used to stay before and offered to bring me there. "какая шина к старому городку?" Xiao Bin asked the lady behind the glass window in fluent Russian. The lady replied "the one in front...", and pointed to the bus behind us in a grumpy way. Xiao Bin immediately bought 2 tickets and helped with my bags aboard the bus. Just as he was saying that we could have saved buying the tickets as there are usually no bus inspectors at night, 2 burly men stood at the exits of the doors just as we were alighting at the stop!

We walked under the moonlight, snaking round several dark alleys before we arrived at the gates out VB Sleep Inn. Thanking him for his kindness, we bade each other goodbye after exchanging phone numbers. Luckily, the hostel was not filled and I ended up paying EUR10 for a night stay in a 8-bed dorm, with an additional 2Lt (£1 was about 3.7Lt at time of writing) for a towel. I quickly left my backpack and headed for some Lithuanian food for dinner. Found a Lithuanian restaurant not far from the hostel and ordered a soup and hearty Cepelinai (Lithuanian fried dumplings) - 2 huge balls of potato flour shaped like an egg with minced meat in the middle, topped with my preferred mushroom sauce. YUMMY!!!

Received a mail from Jurgita, my CS (couchsurfing) host when I got back at the hostel, informing me that I could stay at her place the following day, and arranged to meet up after dinner. Was quite excited but also slightly wary if she decides not to turn up again like my last host. I collapsed in bed not long after...

Awoken again from loud snores, checked my phone - it was only 0300hrs; the snoring was coming from a guy sleeping on the bed directly beside mine...2nd night in a roll, surely it is not going to be trend?

Next morning, I chatted with Andy in the pantry, a 24 year old Kiwi who had only arrived from Gdnask, Poland after a 12hr bus journey, and has been travelling in Europe for 5 months! He thinks he will go on for another few months before settling somewhere for a temp job before his next adventure. Half an hour later, we headed out for a bite before we chanced upon Vilnius once in a year Sunday fair, where locals in Lithuania as well as the Baltic states, Poland, Belarus and Russia come into town to flock their wares and products. The day was a freezing 0 degrees with light drizzle falling on the crowds who were trying their best to enjoy the world's women day. There were smoked fish, handmade pottery, flowers, food and "bagel necklaces"! Andy was game enough to try some 'soup' scooped from a boiling pot with a frog dipped in it. The french stall owner was struggling to get any conservative Lithuanians to try before Andy's 'seal of approval' got a queue forming to taste the delicacy.

The old town was a lot bigger than Riga's, and is full of churches and cathedrals - Lithuanians are supposed to be very religious with the majority been Roman Catholic. Such was the variety of architectural diversity that it is listed on UNESCO world heritage list. Did not manage to take into many sites due to the gray weather and ended up back in the hostel for a hot drink.

Later in the evening, I packed, said goodbye to Andy and met up with Xiao Bin for dinner at his friend, Mr Zhang's restaurant called Hongkongnas. I found out after that Mr Zhang has been in Lithuania for 11 years, worked his way up from a chef to own 2 restaurants in Vilnius. He has since married a local woman and have 2 lovely daughters although his businesses have been hit hard by the credit crisis as well in which he lost over a million (not sure what currency, don't think I should probe any further) in a hotel venture that he had to pulled out due to cash flow problems. I felt quite at home all of a sudden, sitting in a table, with 2 newly found chinese friends in the middle of a baltic state. We chatted like old friends over good alus (Lithuanian beer) and excellent chinese stir fry dishes. Mr Zhang even offered to put me up for my remaining stay but I kindly turned down his warm gesture as I left with Jurgita when she arrived with her friend to pick me up. His kind gesture reminded me again of how Chinese people take good care of each other when they are alone aboard, even though I am a distant chinese from Singapore :)

We took a short spin around the city showing me the night sights of the city although we were struggling to make out anything through the cold foggy night. Jurgita's flat seems to have been built during the former Soviet days, grey on the outside, and simple on the inside. She explained that her parents have left her the flat as they have moved out to live in a house since she started working and has been staying alone ever since. It was a typical 2 bedroom flat with wooden floorings and basic furniture across the rooms. The one thing that surprised me the most is the lack of a basin, meaning that one would have to brush their teeth and wash their face in a bathtub that was also missing shower curtains too (there were no curtain rails). One can only imagine how basic life was for most of the people during the Soviet ruling. Even though Jurgita did not have to pay rent, she added that the bills were already taking a huge chunk of the little pay that she gets. The costs of living seems quite high, coupled with low wages and high taxes. Feels a distant memory to read that Lithuania is a country of steroids, with sky high annual growth and imminent adoption of the Euro as its currency. It just made me appreciate the benefits of mingling with locals through CS who will tell you things that you might not otherwise hear.

After more desert, fruity tea and advising where I should head to the next morning, the hosts bade me goodnight before the start of a new work week whilst I continue to search for bus timings to Siauliai and Hills of the Crosses - which literally blew me away the next day...

ps: falling very far behind in my photos, will try to pick it up in the coming days...