Category: Travel (Page 7 of 29)

Today had all the hallmarks of being a fun day… and it was!

In the morning we drove to a bike shop in the middle of a maze of rice paddies. We had the option of golf caddies, e-bikes or normal bikes for a couple of hours of fun tootling around, finding landmarks on the map we were given.

This is what we chose:

For $20 AUD each, it was a bargain. And it even had a Yoshi on the top.

I assumed Blogless Sandy would want to drive, but she said that she was happy to sit in the back seat, so I was given all the instructions by the bike man. 

As we set off, I decided to turn into the car park to practice. Just as well I did. I lost control of the bloody thing and we started careering everywhere. Cindy and the bike guy ran towards us, people were screaming and I lost my head and stuck my foot out to try and stop it that way.
It was only when I grabbed the brakes with both hands that the bloody thing stopped.
“No one drive near Frogdancer!” Sheridan yelled.
“Frogdancer, we’re swapping seats!” said Blogless Sandy.

I told her how to use the controls and we set off. Sedately. We had a great time over the drive, but it wasn’t nearly as exciting as if I’d been kept behind the wheel!!

Not 5 minutes later, Harry and his pushbike fell into a rice paddy. He said it took him 10 minutes to wash the mud off his clothes, it was so sticky.

I was glad it wasn’t just me causing mayhem.

It was a beautiful morning. We cycled or drove around the narrow roads, enjoying the view. The rice paddies reminded me of when you get a quilt all pinned up, with the pins radiating out in straight lines.

Here’s one of the landmarks. Look at the mountains behind us. These rice paddies were in a valley between two mountain ranges. In front of us were the Central mountains, while the mountains behind hid the Pacific Ocean.

This was taken from another landmark, which was a high platform giving a bird’s eye view of the fields.

On the way back to the bike shop, Blogless Sandy slowed down when she realised that we only had 10 minutes left.
“Oh no. I don’t want this to end; I’m enjoying driving around here!”

After lunch at the train station, we hopped onto the iconic Breezy Blue train.
This is a restored 1950’s train that used to service the east coast of Taiwan, back in the day.

It even has authentic 1950’s air conditioning.

The train weaves its way through orchards of custard apples, mangoes, pineapple fields and rice paddies, and there are stretches where it runs along the Pacific.

I zoomed in to see these fishermen.

We stopped at an indigenous community for a while. To be honest, I found it a bit primary-school-excursion, but some people seemed to get into it.

The best part was this farewell song.

We also saw this dog, which was hobbled with this stick. It looked mean, until it was explained to us that it stops him from running too fast and chasing cars.

As we set off again, we saw the inky black sand on the beach. I had a flashback to Iceland.

It was a fun experience to ride the train.

We all piled out of the train to take a sunset photo, then 5 minutes later we were off again.

Then a few minutes later, we saw this:

How beautiful is this sun?

We arrived at Kaohsiung in the evening.

We walked to the local shopping mall on the river for dinner.
What a view.
Tomorrow morning we explore the city.

Dad joke of the day:

The view from my window before breakfast reminded me of something Cindy said on our first day. I can’t remember her exact words, so I’ll give you the gist.

She said that we may look at the buildings here and think that some are very shabby and need to be knocked down or repaired. The Taiwanese feel the same way. When Chiang Kai-shek lost the civil war in China in 1949 and fled to Taiwan, he brought 2 million people with him. Buildings were put up fast to house them.

Nowadays, most apartment blocks are privately owned. If any improvements are to be made on the facade, EVERYONE has to agree. I need say no more.

On a national level, the government has ruled that when a building is torn down, the site must remain vacant for 2 years before any rebuilding is done. Any person living there has to find another place to live for 2+ years, and if they’re paying rent, the rent would be much higher in the new place because… well, everything is new. Plus, show me a landlord that will happily forego at least 3 years’ rent??

So the buildings remain dilapidated.

Two years ago an earthquake struck Taiwan and Taroko Gorge was hit badly. 

Earthquakes usually last for a few seconds. This lasted over a minute. It not only shook side to side, but up and down as well, which was the killer.

The gorge was a major tourist attraction, and its closure has hit the hip pocket of the town nearby. The damage to the gorge was so severe that they estimate it’ll take until 2037 to repair and make it all safe.

Luckily for us, certain sections of the gorge are now open, as of early 2026. Fortunate Frogdancer strikes again!

It’s heavily controlled. Cindy has just warned us that we HAVE to be back on the bus on time, because the gate is only open for 5 minutes…

They weren’t kidding. Cars are queued up and if we don’t get through in time, we’ll have to wait until midday. Luckily for us, there was a gap in the queue and our driver nipped into it as quickly as a huge coach can nip anywhere.

Marble as far as the eye can see.

Blogless Sandy had the window seat today, so this is me, not taking photos and just looking at the scenery.

I couldn’t believe the colour of the water.

The walls of the gorge rise straight up. And when I say up, I mean UP. They are like hills that little kids draw.

Stunning, isn’t it?

Once we arrived at the car park, Cindy pointed to the pagoda. Yep, we’ll be climbing up to that.

Buddhist temple. Built in 1968. These are the first of 300 steps.

For some reason, it seems like everywhere I go, I have to climb something. I don’t know why.

I certainly don’t enjoy the actual climb itself.

I do enjoy the views at the top, and the feeling of relief when there are no more steps to climb.

The ease of going downstairs is also nice.

I suppose even monks have to dry the washing.

We stayed for about 20 minutes up here on the balcony. It was so pretty and peaceful.

They were drying daikon radishes in the sun.

This was a lovely calm boy. I’m sure he could smell Scout and Hazel on my jeans. He is trained to chase the monkeys away when they come to steal the offerings.

Of course, I walked to the pagoda.

Taiwanese toddlers are cool.

I asked Blogless Sandy to stand beside this statue for scale.

I was walking with Earnest, a lovely boy from Brissie, when out of nowhere this monkey jumped onto the girl in front of us. He was literally hanging off her, and he grabbed her water bottle.
omg.

Believe all the signs telling you to keep all food and drink out of sight. There were 2 more attacks in the car park.

Blogless Sandy took this one. There was a man killed for every kilometre of road, and the road goes for a couple of hundred kilometres. Imagine chipping through marble to turn a tiny track into a road big enough for a bus to drive down? You can see by the overhang how much rock they had to remove.

We went to an indigenous restaurant for lunch, which was very good. While I was there, Georgia31 sent me this photo of Hazel.

It’s the best photo of my girl I’ve seen. It’s now the wallpaper of my phone.

After lunch, we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us. Halfway through, we stopped to stretch our legs and take in the view. This is the Pacific Ocean.

They had some cool indigenous art scattered around.

Everyone loves a splash.

We arrived in Taitung just after 6:30. It was a long day, especially for the bus driver.

As he was parking in front of the hotel…. Crunch!

He backed into a van.

After we dumped our bags in the rooms, we walked with a nice couple to get dinner at the night market. As I was walking by a man with a little toddler, I saw him place the little boy on the kerb, then he put 2 boxes out into the street. He grabbed a lighter, and said to the boy, “Boom! Boom!”

Boom boom all right. It was spectacular.

We ran into a mother and son who are in our group. They’re Asian and they have very good taste in street food. We followed their recommendation and bought these fried batter balls with shrimp, octopus and veggies.

Delicious.

Dad joke of the day:

We left Taipei today and headed into the mountains. Shifen is the only place in Taiwan where sky lanterns are allowed to be released. I wasn’t expecting much from this, but it ended up being unexpectedly moving.

I saw this sign outside a shop as we walked into town.

I was expecting the lanterns to be small, but boy, was I wrong. They’re huge! Four people paint their wishes onto the four sides of the lantern. Cindy told us on the bus ride going up the mountain to take some time to think about what we wanted to write on our lantern.
I sat there and realised that, for the moment at least, my life was almost perfect. I messaged Georgia31 to ask what she wanted to wish for herself. I was going to give the lantern-luck to her. She’s a bit stuck and could do with a bit of luck to come her way.

She asked for longevity and good health. I added a couple of extra things because why not?

In between trains, the lanterns are carried out onto the railroad tracks and set alight.

I watched it fly up, up, until it was just a speck in the sky. I hoped it was a good sign for Georgia’s wishes.
We saw one lantern catch fire and flame out two seconds after they let it go. I’m tipping their wishes aren’t looking good.

After wandering around the town for a bit, we caught the train along the Pingxi Branch Line.

Much to her delight, Blogless Sandy remembered that she still had a banana and chocolate brownie from yesterday’s lunch.

There was some beautiful scenery along the way.

The town of Zhou tong is famous for its cats, Cindy said. Apparently, people come from all over the place just to hang out with the town’s cats.

After the train, we hopped on the bus again and headed to Jiufen, which has stunning views of the East China Sea.

We had an hour and a half to walk around Old Street, which was full of interesting little shops.

Also a cute baby.

And a cool dog.

And a chic cat.

It had mysterious laneways.

Then it was back on the bus, heading down the coast. We saw rice paddies, and I remembered how last year I was holding rice seedlings by a rice paddy in Vietnam.

Now we were driving beside the Pacific Ocean. Over the horizon lies America.

Here are some fun facts that we learned on the bus:

Firecracker festivals.

In one, firecrackers are aimed at you. If they hit you, it’s good luck. People have to wear helmets and cover themselves all over to avoid getting hurt.

In another one, a volunteer rides on a cart, topless, wearing red shorts and carrying a “fan” ( a branch and leaves in reality) to knock aside the fireworks people are aiming at him. A French guy did it two years running, even though the guy always gets burned.

Housing here is expensive.

Remember when we used to measure housing in square metres? They charge 2.5 million Taiwanese dollars ($113,700 AUD) per square for the most expensive.

700,000 ($31,000 AUD / square metres) for the cheapest ones. I guess housing is expensive wherever you go.

Earthquakes happen every single day here, because they are formed by two tectonic plates. Most are micro, so no one feels them. The good thing about all of the earthquakes is that Taiwan has a lot of hot springs.

3/4 of the island is mountains.

The Portuguese named this island Formosa in the 14th century. I was excited… I have heard of Formosa but I never knew where it was.

We loved the mountains.

Our last stop for the day was the Hualien Night Market, where one clever stall holder trained her dog to help bring the punters in.

We got there right on 6 PM, so we scattered in search of an early dinner. We chose wild boar fried noodles, which were delicious, and only cost $150 NTD / $6.50 AUD.

Tomorrow? A way-famous gorge. ( I’ve never heard of it, but some people on the tour are psyched!)

Dad joke of the day:

Our first stop of the day was really interesting. It was the National Palace Museum, which houses over 60,000 Chinese antiquities that Chiangmai Kai-Shek “rescued” from the fighting that was around the Forbidden City as he fled China.

If you peer beside the magnifying glass, you can get an idea of how small the stone is, that the carvings are on. Cindy, our guide, said, “ The ancients seemed to spend a lot of time carving onto impossibly small things. They must have had a lot of time on their hands.”

The two things in the front were given to dying people to hold, in the belief that all of their money and their luck will pass to the next generation.
The same tradition is still done today, except that it is now red envelopes stuffed with money.

You pour the wine in the top, then tip it and pour it out through the droopy neck. It honestly doesn’t seem like a very efficient process to me.

These are ancient seals. I was surprised when Cindy told us that seals (she called them stamps) are still in use in Taiwan to this day. When people make big purchases, like a house or a car, they bring their personal seals to stamp onto the documents.

Another wine pouring vessel.

Loved this one. Her chubby cheeks!

This one was INSANE. The ball has 16 layers of ivory and it took 3 generations over a hundred years to complete.

Of course there were many more things that we saw. We spent an hour and a half and we barely scratched the surface. You could easily spend a whole day here.

Taipei 101, which was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010. We stopped here for lunch. Some of us decided to go to the observation deck on the 86th floor.

Remember recently, when I went to the Eureka sky deck in Melbourne with Scott for a Little Adventure? This one was far more interesting.

Taipei is ringed by mountains, so there was a lot of variety. It wasn’t just a city scape.

Plus, it’s the only building in the world that has its Tuned Mass Damper on display to the public.

This is the thing that stops skyscrapers from breaking apart during earthquakes and typhoons. It sways as a counterbalance to keep the building intact.

It is 5 stories tall and weighs 680 metric tonnes. I’m not usually drawn to hydraulics, but I found this interesting.

Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall. It’s huge.

He died in 1975, and that’s when the government decided to build it.

Finished in 1980. Both his and his son’s bodies are not here, as they wanted to be buried in China. They are mummified, like Chairman Mao and the Kim family of North Korean. The hope is that one day China will allow them to be taken back, but I think there’s fat chance of that happening any time soon.

On the 4th level, there’s an enormous statue of him.

He looks benevolent, don’t you think?

It’s part of a large area, with the state theatre and library housed in the orange-roofed buildings. Blogless Sandy and I went for a walk outside, and I was passed by 3 school groups. They must’ve been learning English, because lots of them called out, “Hello!” “Hi!” as they went past.

Then it was back in the bus, on our way to a weird little temple.

The street view was as you’d expect. But the first courtyard?

It was as if Disney workers on crack designed their version of a Taiwanese temple. The place was crammed with statues like these, all made from wire and cloth. It was bizarre.

Longshan temple looked more normal once I moved in from the outer courtyard.

As you know, I’ve been to quite a few temples in the last few years. I couldn’t help noticing something I’ve never seen before.

Many people were tossing two red wooden chips on the ground, then picking them up and throwing them down again. Some people would only do it once or twice, but others would do it for a while. Then, they’d suddenly put the chips in a container, grab a long stick from a bin, stare at it, put it back and then race away.

I asked Cindy what was going on.
“Oh, we believe that

HOLY SHIT… I’m on the 6th floor and we just had a mini earthquake!!! My room was swaying and I could see the water level in Wanda moving.
WOW.

Anyway, what was I saying?

Cindy said, “ We believe that when we ask the god a question, we then toss the chips. If they both land the same way, then the answer is yes. But if you really want to be sure that the answer is correct, you throw them again. If they land the same again, then you can be sure it is certain. If they land differently than the first time, you have to ask the question again, but in a slightly different way.”

She laughed. “Sometimes I have been there for an hour!”

Our last stop before heading back to the hotel was a culinary one. Apparently, pineapple cakes are one of Taiwan’s way famous foods. We were going to make some for ourselves.

It wasn’t all that challenging. Basically, you wrap a biscuit dough around a pineapple and melon purée. Then they set us loose in the gift shop while our cakes were baked.

The packaging they chose to present them in was a little unfortunate, but the cakes were nice.

Blogless Sandy and I went back to the night market for dinner. This time, we had steamed pork dumplings and they were fabulous. We were served 10 for less than $5.

On the way home, we stopped at a shop across the road from the hotel and Blogless Sandy tried Bubble Tea. She liked it. ( I won’t try it because I can’t stand milk in my tea or coffee. )

Tomorrow, we leave the city and head out on our trek to circumnavigate the island.

Dad joke of the day:

Despite leaving from the same city and being on the same tour, Sandy and I had different flights from Hong Kong to Taipei. We were both looking at the board to see which gate we had to go to, when Sandy saw her flight and said, “It’s gate 27,” and off we went.

I did think it was strange that she was looking further to the left than the 9:30 AM flights, but hey. She saw the gate, so after stopping her from taking an escalator down to the train line, we went to gate 27. It was miles away.

They were finalising boarding as we got there at 8:30. She was ushered straight on board, while my boarding pass wasn’t being accepted.

Of course not. It was for a different flight, leaving shortly on the other side of the airport. I set off at a run and made it, but Sandy was on her plane, not knowing what had happened to me. I knew she’d be freaking out.

Here I am, waiting for boarding, looking at the seat where she should have been sitting in.

We’ve checked the flights for the way home. Both are the same, though we only have an hour and 5 minutes between flights at Hong Kong airport. We’re worried that even with only having carryon, it might be cutting it too fine…

But all’s well that ends well, and we’re now in Taipei!

We were dropped off at the hotel at 1, which was a couple of hours before being able to check-in , so after finding an ATM to get some Taiwanese dollars, we decided to explore the streets around the hotel.

Taipei is reminding me of a cross between Japan and China, with the amount of motorcycles throwing in a hint of Vietnam for good measure.

My hotel room has a Japanese bidet! I’m so happy.

We stopped for coffee and carrot cake at a funky little café across the road from the hotel. An Americano was $70 Taiwanese. I nearly had a heart attack until I used the currency converter on my phone and realised that it was $3 AUD.

James from Ireland messaged me as we were walking, so I sent him this as proof that I was here. Nothing says Taiwan more than Homer Simpson, that’s what I always say.

There was a little park, with many sculptures.

We were walking to see where the night market was. Maybe we’ll go there for dinner.

Sandy wanted to check out the 7-11 stores, to see if they were similar to those that are in Japan. To my great satisfaction, they sell sushi and salads, so lunches on the run are sorted.

Coriander gin, anyone?

This manhole cover has fish and trees.

As you can see, Wanda the water bottle is still with me. She and I have been to seven continents together.

Sometimes when you travel, you see little things that suddenly remind you that life is different in other places in the world.

Remember last year, when I was taking photos of the beautiful doors in Stone Town, Zanzibar?

We were walking to see one of the oldest shopping streets in Taipei.

You’ve never seen so many dried foods in your life. Heaps of shops were selling bags of huge dried mushrooms that were bigger than my suitcase.

We browsed in a gorgeous pottery store.

I liked this old decoration around a very high-up window. It looks like parsnips.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we were having fun.

On the way back to our hotel, this little building nestled at the end of the street caught our eyes.

How funny! We couldn’t find the night market’s location earlier in the day, even though Google Maps was telling us we were there. But when we came back at 6pm, the answer was obvious. The street had closed down and there were stalls set up on the road.

That’s the back of Sandy’s head as we wandered around seeing what the options were for dinner. Somehow, I didn’t fancy the boneless chicken feet or the small intestines inside large intestines. We ended up choosing fried rice.

Tomorrow I might get these.

Pretty.

Sandy found herself drawn back to a stall that was selling peanut butter ice cream.

This is a massive chunk of peanuts and toffee. The guy grates along the top…

… lays out a thin crêpe, puts the peanut shavings on it with two scoops of ice cream and a little fresh coriander (not pictured), then wraps it all up like a burrito.

Look how happy she is!

Tomorrow we have an 8 AM start. Let’s see how punctual this group is.

Dad joke of the day:

The good thing about having friends with different interests to you is that they expose you to experiences that you wouldn’t normally see for yourself.

Liga is a foodie, and on my last day in Latvia, she booked us a table at her friend’s Green Michelin Starred restaurant. There were 4 of us at the table. James was flying back to Ireland after this, and Liga, from the Ligas’ Crazy Road Trip last year, was joining us too.

This is something that I’d never do on my own, but it was definitely a highlight of my trip. The food was amazing.

They really are beautiful birds, aren’t they?

As we were driving towards the lovely little village where the restaurant is, Liga remembered that there was a huge Pagan festival scheduled for that night. Bonfires, dancing, it was all going to happen. Shame that we had to get James to the airport…

We parked the car and walked over a little bridge over a stream. There was Liga, waiting for us in the garden. I realised when we were driving home that we didn’t take any photos of people – it was all about the food!
Oops.

There was a kitchen garden to wander around in. The restaurant takes great pride in sourcing locally grown ingredients.
This didn’t include the wines. They came from France, Portugal and Italy.

Remember the Michelin star pho restaurant I went to in Hanoi? There were decor here is a lot classier!

We went for the full experience – paired wines with each course and extra caviar and wagyu beef. Why not?

A little snack for starters, which wasn’t on the menu.

Unlike Australia, Latvia is very dog-friendly. I wasn’t sure about a dog being in such an expensive place, but of course, it’s a Cavalier. That’s perfectly ok. She was underneath the table next to us and she was a good girl.

Fish, with the extra fresh caviar.

Some bread with a mushroom spread that was so tasty.

You don’t want to overcook the wagyu.

This was absolutely delicious.

Duck. The beetroot was fabulous.

And finally, dessert. Again, so flavoursome. This meal was definitely a treat.

We dropped James off, then came back for a chilled last night. This is the silk carpet Liga brought home from Afghanistan. It’s stunning.

I’m hastily writing this on the first leg of my trip home, on the plane from Riga to Helsinki. WHAT a trip this has been! I’ve been so lucky.

But now my nose is pointing towards home. It’s going to be a long two days’ travel.

Dad joke of the day:

Liga’s cat has finally warmed up to me, along with her daughter. Today was a curriculum day for Alise, so she came with us to have a plane ride.

Isn’t this gorgeous? It’s the cafe that Liga’s friend Ernest runs, along with a small hotel and a charter lane business.

He worked in Europe for a few years, flying planes, then he said that he realised that if he wanted to own a place by a lake, Latvia was the only place where he could afford to do it.

Liga was telling me that there’s a groundswell of young people moving out of the big cities like Riga and moving back to the little villages that they originally came from. They open cafes, small businesses, bed and breakfasts, and the countryside is being renewed.

Ernest and his wife have been here for a few years, slowly renovating the old mill house.

This is a man made lake, apparently, but it’s been here for a few hundred years, I think.

It’s definitely a good place to put down roots.

We had a brief tour of the place, then we set off for the airport.

Here is our Cessna. I can fit under the wing!

Alise did her own thing while we were waiting for the plane. She slept for the entirety of the two hour drive, so she was raring to go.

Liga was happy to give her spot to Alise. She isn’t great with heights.

This was my view.

Here’s the runway…

This was only a portion of the solar panel farm. It covered a lot of ground.

Alise was loving it. She was taking photos and sending them to her parents and friends.

“You could pick up the buildings and put them in your hands,” she said.

We flew over the widest waterfall in Europe- Ventas Rumba. It’s a whopping 2 metres high, but hey! It’s the widest!

Latvia clearly has a thing for renewables.

James isn’t all that fond of heights. It was an educational experience for Alise, learning some new English swear words.

Actually, it was good that James was scared. It gave Alise something to focus on, and while we were laughing at James, she forgot to be nervous and she just had fun.

Over the Baltic Sea.

Alise took this photo for me as we were coming in to land. But first, we buzzed Liga, standing on the ground.

Once we were back at the airport, Ernest took us for a quick tour of the planes. There was a Soviet MIG plane outs, as well as this one.

“ It doesn’t matter if it’s a Soviet plane, tank or car,” said Ernest. “ The measure of thumb is one kilometre per litre of fuel!”

Gliders.

Ernest gave us free booze and some coffee beans. James’ beer was a live beer. It turned out to taste really good, so they said.

I stuck to the best apple cider I’ve ever had.

Yum. I wish we could get this back in Australia.

Home again, home again.

James was really keen to hit the gay bars of Riga, so Alise was dropped off at her aunt’s place, and the three of us went out.

The gay bar was pretty dull, so after an hour or so we grabbed another Bolt and went into the city to a bar.

Liga translated some of the designer beer names.

6.Tapeworm killer

9. Beer from the swamp

I’m not drinking beer. They were hopping into it.

Beer is a big thing in Latvian culture. James accidentally put his foot in it when he looked at the board, and asked for a LITHUANIAN beer.

The barmaid stared unblinkingly at him and said, “Try again.”

He didn’t realise what he’d said, so the scene was repeated.

Oof. He finally got it right.

The three of us, just before we hit the nightclub.

Of course, if there’s a space to dance, I’m going to take it!

One girl asked how old I was, and when I told her, she said, “I hope I’m still doing things like this when I’m 62!”

“You will if you want to,” I said. “ It’s just a decision.”

Shots at 3AM. Why not?

This was an interesting conversation. This boy is of Russian descent, and has a huge disconnect in his life between his family and their political sympathies, along with his own inclinations.

“In Russia, they kill people like me,” he said. “I don’t want anything to do with Russia and the war, but my parents…”

The Russians have been here for at least a couple of generations, up to a couple of hundred years. People are heavily invested here. It’s not an easy thing to resolve.

Dad joke of the day:

Today was a road trip. We drove through Latvia, stopping off at a palace owned by a very wealthy Duke back in the day, before driving into Lithuania and having a little look around.

Rundale Palace was owned by a couple of generations of Dukes, before the Russians swept through and hung onto it for the next couple of centuries. I was excited to see that it still has a moat around it.

It would have been a simply stunning building back in the day. The bones were all still there, but it’s taken a monumental restoration job to get it back to where it is today.

It wasn’t just the Russians. Napoleon’s troops used this place as a hospital and that’s also never good news for beautiful old homes.

This room was the Gold Room. Masses of gilt decorations in a quasi throne room.

The room leading off from the Gold Room used to be used as a dining room. They could only seat 60 of their closest friends though.

I loved the ballroom. It was all plaster, which was left unpainted. It looked fantastic.

The stork’s nest in the middle of the ceiling was actual sticks and moss, just covered with plaster.

It had a small room where someone with a passion for vases exhibited their collection.

The Rose Room. This was one of my favourites.

There was a plaque on the wall of the Roman emperor Vespasian. LOOK AT HiS NOSE!!!!

omg

The western side of the palace was pretty much empty, so they used it for an exhibition of 17th century fashion.

This tiny little sculpture outside the cafe was exquisite. The fabric was handled so beautifully.

Liga out in the gardens.

The gardens around the palace were beautiful. They were very formally laid out.

Obviously this rose was named for Liga. There were hundreds of roses, all named.

What are the odds that I’d see a rose called this, on the very day the Dad joke was scheduled? Life is very funny sometimes.

We pinched some grapes from this vine. They were super sweet and juicy.

Then we were off to cross the border into Lithuania. James had mentioned something called the Hill of Crosses, so we thought we’d check it out.

Yeah, it looked pretty much the way it sounded. A hill of crosses. James in his red hat is clearly having a spiritual moment.

People started putting crosses on this hill for whatever reason, and eventually the Pope heard about it and came to visit. He donated a huge white cross “as a gift from God.”

There are thousands of crosses and rosary beads here. There’s a gift shop as you come in, which makes it easy for people to buy a cross and take it up there.

It was a strange place. Now, as you know, I don’t have a religious bone in my body, but I can respect the faith of ordinary people who want to contribute to a collective art installation.

But I can’t respond to this in a positive way. It’s just firewood thrown every which way. Big areas of the hill looked like this, which was a shame.

But there were gems among the rubbish.

After we visited the gift shop on the way out… I bought another Christmas Tree decoration… we headed into the nearest town to buy a traditional Lithuanian meal.

Here was our restaurant, chosen for us by Google. It had jolly German music playing, and it was full of macrame.

Liga was adamant that we had to try the potato dumplings. James, being Irish, needed no convincing, though we both drew the line at the pig lungs. We ordered a plate of two dumplings each, his filled with meat and mine with cheese.

The pictures in the menu were deceptive. Each dumpling was as big as my head.

I could only finish one.

Look at us in Lithuania!

I tried to take some photos of Lithuania as we drove back to Riga.

I’m sorry. I like this one.

These countries have so much timber. Forests are everywhere.

Tomorrow, Liga is planning an adventure for James and I.

Dad joke of the day:

This morning before we headed off, Liga showed me a couple of magazine articles she wrote about her trip to Afghanistan. She went there on her own, and travelled to remote areas.

Her photos are amazing, especially the ones taken with people who have never seen a female tourist before. She’s a brave woman!

We drove to another town near Riga. We were leaving James in Riga for the day and going for a girls day.

This is the oldest wooden church in the Baltics. It’s a Lutheran one, I think, built in the early 1700s.

It looks very Scandi inside.

The bible is very old. Imagine the thrill those people would have had when they saw a bible in their own language for the first time… especially if they could read it.

A little more up the path was the ruin of an old castle complex built around 1350. Earlier wooden structures were there, but 1350 was when the Catholic Church got serious about security here.

Of course, my naive belief that the climbing to the top of towers had finished far this holiday was wrong.

They built this thing to last.

It didn’t, of course, with all the conflicts and bloodthirsty takeovers this country has suffered. Restoration began in the 1960s.

“If you look, you see that all the graffiti is Russians names,” said Liga. “ They are the only ones who don’t care about ruining anything.”

This old, timber-lined well is still in use today.

Dog and cat footprints in the bricks.

Less than a week to go, Scout.

This castle had an underfloor heating system. Pretty advanced design for back then.

Then it was off to the country to the traditional Latvian sauna. Liga was very insistent that I experience a proper sauna.

The Latvian sauna has a slightly different feel than a Finnish one, for example. It has a more spiritual side. Liga said to me yesterday, “ You will need to say something you wish to leave there. A problem you have; something you’ve said that you regret… something like that.”

Well, being a Virgo, I’m practically perfect in every way… 😳

Haha. I wish! I thought of a couple of things, so I was ready.

We drank two cups of tea made from wormwood and mallow, which was really bitter. The idea is that you can’t wash your soul clean until you drink the bitter and eat the sweet. This was fruit touched by the sun.

We sat for ages, sipping the tea and talking. There was no rush, as the wood fire slowly warmed up the sauna.

It was all about relaxing, letting the world fall away and just letting the conversation flow.

Liga said that back in the day, the villagers worked 6 days, and on Sundays they gathered together in the saunas. They could get properly clean, they could relax and gossip with the neighbours.

Women gave birth in the saunas, and when people died, their bodies were prepared for burial here.

Sound was also an important part of the sauna, but later.

Remember this lake. It’s also an important part of the whole experience, but later.

We stripped naked and went into the sauna. We were there for quite a long time. We sat in the steam, while Agitai used bunches of dried birch leaves to flick cool water on us. We made a ‘tea’ of different herbs and citrus, and our feet went in there. It smelled amazing.

We each sang a song that is supposed to be important to us. When I was asked to sing, I couldn’t think of anything except Men At Work’s ‘Down Under’, so they got the first verse and the chorus.

Liga ducked outside to take a photo through the window. I don’t have a stitch on here.

There I am, hiding behind the dried birch.

Do you see the red around Agiai’s hat? It’s to stop the sauna master from absorbing anything bad that we might get rid of.

She is a third generation Sauna Master.

After the sauna part is over, you thank your parents, family and friends for being in your life. Then Agitai took me outside, still naked, and we got waist-deep into the lake outside the sauna. It was ICY.

She held me afloat, while I concentrated on stretching out and controlling my breathing. Georgia once told me that if I was ever stressed or in pain, if you breathe deeply and slowly, it tricks your brain that everything is ok. I was telling my brain that it really wasn’t that cold…

See the bunches of birch hanging up?

After the cold lake, I was brought in and wrapped up like a baby bunny. It was so relaxing. Then, as I shut my eyes, she and Liga used the bowls to make an amazing sound scape.

Then they disappeared back into the sauna to let me sleep.

I didn’t snooze, but it was warm and comforting. It was lovely.

It was an experience I’ll never forget.

James, Liga and I went out to dinner at a restaurant that one of Liga’s army friends owns. Best chile con carne nachos I’ve ever had.

The margaritas weren’t bad, too.

Dad joke of the day:

This morning we walked to Tallinn Old Town for breakfast. We had to fortify ourselves for the long car trip to another country… a full 350 kms.

Haha! Yes. Apparently this is considered almost as an epic drive in these parts.

No filter. This was the park in Tallinn as we walked back to the car.

Once we were out of Tallinn, it was all gently rolling countryside and forests. The buildings were all shaped very differently to farm buildings from home, which of course only added to the charm.

Timber is a huge part of the economy here. They have so many trees and so few people to live amongst them. Half of Estonia’s population of 1 million lives in the capital. Latvia is the same, except their population is double that of Estonia.

Woo hoo! Another new country! What an amazing life I’m living right now.

Liga pointed out this dirt track. This is where, in the early 1990’s, people lined up, hand in hand, in an unbroken chain which led from one end of the 3 Baltic countries to the other. They were protesting being forced to be under Soviet rule.

Liga was one of those people.

It was interesting. She says that there’s a huge divide between the old people/Boomers and her generation. The oldies remember life under communism as being really easy. Housing and jobs were provided for everyone, there was no unemployment and nobody had to think or use any initiative. Life was spoon fed to you.

Of course, the younger ones want the freedom to decide their own future. They are vehemently against Russia and want nothing to do with it. “We just have to wait for the old ones to die and then we’ll be free of their nostalgia that helps no one.”

Mid afternoon we arrived at Liga’s place, where she was reunited with her grumpy-faced cat and her family. James from Ireland was in the city, so we arranged to meet up after I put some washing on.

Riga doesn’t have an underground rail, so these tunnels are purely for crossing the road. Buskers sometimes use them.

I’m in this photo with James, I promise!

Old Town Riga is pretty much for the tourists. Liga says she hardly ever goes here.

It’s a pretty place.

There is a traditional Latvian drink we tried. First we had shots of the traditional type, then the blackcurrant version. James and I liked both, and they certainly warmed us up.

This square has one of the nods to a film called ‘Flow.’ It’s the first Latvian film to win an Oscar. It’s an animated movie with no dialogue, and the guy who made it used free software from the internet. There are different statues for each character, dotted around the city.

Liga.

It was almost 7pm and it was still light. My phone was nearly dead…

It’s a bit sobering when we zoom in closer to the radio building…

Bullet holes from when they were fighting the Russians.

The Christmas markets here are meant to be pretty amazing. You can see why.

The musicians of Bremen. It’s a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. I touched the snout of the bottom one for luck. The others were all too high.

My phone died then. We went to a local restaurant near Liga’s place, with her husband and daughter, where we had what was essentially a pork chop Parma with mashed potatoes. Delicious!

Here’s Alise. She’s vey smart and wholly delightful. Her English, even at 8 years old, is extremely good.

Goodnight!

Dad joke of the day: