Helsinki - Tallinn - Tartu

Tartu, Estonia


Helsinki is somewhat a more toned-down version of the Nordic countries, sure she's developed and all that but lack the exuberance and warmth that are greatly enjoyed by its southern counterpart, think Madrid, Rome or Amsterdam.

people go about minding their own business and wont stop to mingle on the street if they can help it, it's way too cold to say 'how do you do' i'd imagine. And since i desperately wanted to leave the euro-spending country pronto and head on to the baltics state, i didnt even check out the night scenes in Helsinki.

instead i let Arto cooked me a three-course gourmet in his house. The european men have since ceased to amaze me with their cooking ability. It seems they can just whip up some food out of thin air like Jamie Oliver effortlessly, it is also because eating out simply costs too much! Leave no tips at the table and the waiter will offer a 'dont come back again' politely.

I took a three-hour ferry ride to Tallinn next and fell in love with the estonian capital immediately. What's not to love of a country with 1.4 million citizens? No longer will you walk on the sidewalks and risk holding up a hundred people behind you because you're a slowass, or queue for ages to get in to a good bar and for once Service is noted!

Responsible for Skype and Kazaa, the ppl here are technology savvy indeed! fellow estonians were boasting to me of their e-tax, e-education, paperless hospital, and simply everything being digitalized, i havent the heart to tell them the malaysians are such too, albeit not always up to standard and poorly maintained.

So we went to this Italian restaurant where food is served a la 'Marche' whereby a smart card is given and our orders being stored in it, and no, we dont have to wait for our food to be called out, as Davide excitedly pointed out to me, we were given a vibrator which goes off when our food is ready, how 'smart' eh? i think i still prefer placing order a la 'SAKAE' and table service, tyvm.

but Tallinn really is a charming baltics city with her old town very much preserved and church spires dominated the skyline. We went to the local bar at night and hangout with a bunch of italians on the italy vs montenegro match. Italy of course won the match effortlessly so it wasnt that thrilling. As Mirje's sister is coming to KL for a job placement, i was busy answering her neverending questions, is healthcare up to par, how's the nightlife in KL, is it safe walking down the street? i can only assure her that KL is very much the metropolis everyone thinks it is, minus the cold wind and the charming old town.

So i attempted to hitchhike out of Tallinn to Tartu. and as luck will have it, with God's blessing, a car stopped for me just under two minutes after thumb's out. Mario is a tattoo artist who was eager to show me his designs upon me finished telling him my story. and he wanted to come to malaysia after i told him our Iban tribes have tats all over their body and they use traditonal techniques. What a way to promote good ol´malaysia eh?

we went back to his house en route to Tartu and his mother wanted to give me a gift! i was asked to choose anything i like from her shop which sells bric-a-bracs and collectibles but kindly turned her down. i cant ask for free rides and free gifts at the same time! apparently any non-estonian speaking people are well-liked here.

Got in to Tartu without any incidents and i hooked up with Tonu, geologist and curator for Museum of Geology, so it's not a surprise when i tagged along today on a cross country excursion over estonian coastline collecting rock samples. It was kinda fun though i can tell you right now im no rocks expert.

Will go to Latvia tomorrow.



View Larger Map