entry created: Saturday 18 June 2005, 11:31pm (NZ time) latest entry  |  archive  |  about  |  contact  |  guestbook

Location:  Märjamaa, Estonia Local time:  Saturday, 2:20pm Music:  Human Traffic soundtrack So I've been pretty slack with my web entries lately. But since I haven't been doing that much travelling or sight-seeing, it hasn't seemed necessary. The big eastern Europe trip is coming up in two weeks, and I'm really starting to look forward to that. My International Driver's Licence has arrived from the US (I need it to rent the car in Salzburg), and my repaired (finally!) camera should be turning up any day (fingers crossed). I've been filling the days enjoying the sun, reading Ernest Hemingway (sheesh, what was I thinking!), gymming and running, reading up on photography, or downloading new music. I've spent the past two years with the same 50 CDs that I've been carrying around, and it's damnwell time for a change! So I'll give my old CDs to Mum and Dad to take back to NZ when I see them in Austria, and fill up on new albums. God bless high-speed Internet. We went on a weekend canoing trip last weekend, with about 20 others. The first day was 15km downstream (two or three people to a canoe), followed by camping overnight in a traditional-styled camping area. After dinner (which included much alcohol being passed along the tables) everyone hit the sauna. Being only the second sauna I'd ever had, and taking into account the moderate amount of alcohol I had induced earlier, my head started reeling after the third time I'd gone in, and nothing seemed to make the ground stop spinning! Consequently I had to retire (somewhat shamefully) early to bed, while the rest of them (Estonians to the very core!) partied on, drinking and sauna-ing. For me, alcohol and saunas don't seem to mix all that well! Everywhere you turn in metropolitan Estonia there are signs of construction and progress, as the country forges ahead after being released from the suffocating grip of the Soviet Union. A view of my temporary Estonian home of Märjamaa, from atop the local 14th century church. A large tree in the back yard was suffering from a massive infestation of some sort of caterpillar/moth. They had weaved a thick, strong silky web over everything. Never have I seen anything like it. Neighbouring plants were beginning to also be infested. We cut the whole tree down and burned it.      Pocket bikes are now all the rage here. They weigh 24kg and can handle people up to 110kg. A 44cc 2-stroke engine can propel these things to 100kph. I was all knees and elbows. Beware of the Elk! Buzz buzz. < previous     next >