2012Wandering2013: Lithunia (Vilnius, Si Hill of Crosses) August 2013

Vilnius

I am very surprised that Earnest Zacharevic was not as popular as he did in Penang, Malaysia. Robertas had no idea who he was. I love Lithuania name, so may ‘as’, for example Robert becomes Robertas, Tom becomes Tomas etc.

I joined Vilnius free walking tour. It was a small city. One day tour was enough. Chatting to Robertas was a great experience. He had introduced a new hobby to me, Worldwide Radio Station. Robertas and his wife had many interesting stories but since he was going to publish his travel stories so I should not mention his interesting experience on web. They bought me a dinner and enjoyed the pink, sour and cold traditional soup very much. The taste of the beer was a little bit strange.

Karriam was the Turkish living at Trakai. Kanibus (something like kalipas) was the most famous cuisine. I took a bus to Trakai which was a small island or town. It was very relaxing area. The castle was not astonishing but favourable. It was nothing special but a quiet town along a very beautiful lake. It was apple season so I just plucked the apple along the road. It was small but crispy and sweet.

Siaulial

Siaulial was not a major tourist centre but Domantai was famous for Hill of Crosses. It was a wonderful and weird scene. There were millions of crosses there. It was worth for a visit. Some crosses were good in art. You will read many Korean languages and many nation languages there. Crosses were from Catholic, Methodist and many different churches. Many were from tourists too. It was an amazing view. I wrote my name on a very old cross too. haha

People that I met

Robertas had visited many countries and very rich experience in backpacking and hitchhiking. He had many interesting experiences. He also had a wide range of interests such as collecting coins, notes, sugar bags, beer coasters, QSL and so forth. I was quite interested in collecting QSL cards (I acknowledge receipt) too. I decided to start my new hobby after going back to Malaysia.

Get a lift with Rolandas, his wife and son. We decided to eat Amenies food. The waiter kept pushing me to order expensive food. I only order some desert 4 litas bus she told bla bla and made me embarrassed and Rolandas also advised me to order some meals. The waitress introduced the most expensive 35 litas (RM40+) for the main dish. I rejected. She still keep saying the desert was too small to me, I told her that I have lunch already though. Her way to sell her products made me feeling bad. I ordered 15 litas Dalma. After finishing the lunch, she gave us separate bill but Rolandas decided to buy the bill for me and she expressed impolitely. On the way back, Roberdas stopped his car in front of an apartment, I thought it was where my host, Ugne stay. Before I get out the car, the mother of his son suddenly saying good bye to me and get out from the car. I was quite shock. Then he sent me to Ugne’s house. I visited their studio again on the second day and we had taken few good and professional photos.

Ugne was a capable woman. She cooked traditional food to me and her son, Paulius was well-educated. Paulius was very generous, he asked his mother to buy an ice-cream to me and gave me a lot of candies while I was leaving.