.Chapter Seven: The rest of country of Fire and a glimpse at the Love city.

Kids, travelling very lightweight comes at a price. Once you lose something or something breaks, you feel a great loss for it right away. I had both. I wasn't feeling very comfortably when rejecting my taxi driver's suggestion to go to some place, spend a night there and only next day go to Ganja (weird, right?), so when I was rushed to a bus that goes to Baku I accidentally forgot my water bottle in his taxi. From that moment on until the moment I bought a new one, I felt like something was missing. Just like my necklace thingie, except that I got a tattoo for that, so I never truly really lose it anymore. Also, just my luck, but on the second day of my being in Ganja, my phone decided to stop working. It got stuck in the boot loop and as much as I tried to do for it, I was out of my own league there. 

I got lucky, but it did cost me half a day in Ganja. I first searched for a mobile phones fixing place and simultaneously for a new phone, then I left my phone with some guys for a few hours and the outcome, quite satisfying - I got my phone back, it was working, but everything in it was gone. No time to grief when you are on a road, so I took it as a big girl - shit happens and for mere 20 EUR I was happy to have my keyboard friendly phone working again.

That only left me a little time to explore the rest of Ganja, so I headed for a big park a bit on a side of a center. It's quite nice, once you go through the shitty part of it. There I've been stopped by this park guard [how you call them, again?], who was very excited to learn that I am from Lithuania and that he has friends there, because of the army times in Soviet Union. I took a bus back to the center, because the walking scenery wasn't that exciting and I figured - to hell with it. The buses in here has a bit of a different approach - you get on and you only pay when you leave. I was up in my own head I guess that when I left I completely forgot to pay. The driver did nothing though [still wondering why]. I remembered almost immediately and jumped back on a bus, said my sorry'ies, made the whole bus laughed, paid and got off again. It was a good day, still. I mean, I got my phone back and in working conditions.

The next stop was Sheki. A small town close to Georgian border, but apparently very nice. I am not sure, maybe I was in a bad mood or timing, but it did not look too nice to me. I have good time though, I visited a palace, an Albanian church, walked up and down the old town, here and there, stayed in an amazing place I will most definitely have to recommend on booking.com. On my second night the owner took me for a beer that turned into dinner and a lovely evening, so I really cannot complain, but it still was missing something..

And today I took my ride to Georgia. It was a bumpy ride, I have to say. First I needed to get to another town, where I got a very persistent old creep trying to talk to me, telling me he loves me and I should stay with him, how he will do anything, how he will buy me everything I want and how I should NOT get on that bus. It got me to a point where I was simply imagining kicking his head again and again and again. Once again, I am in a foreign country where men have the upper hand, I am in no position to tell him to fuck off and just go die already. 

The border crossing went fine and then my bus dropped me off somewhere, since I wasn't yet going to Tbilisi, but rather to Sighnaghi [better known as Love city]. I left, took my stuff, checked my map which said I would be walking far and up, so I figured I will try to get a cab. There were no cabs seen around, so I just started walking. I got really lucky, because a taxi guy with someone already in it beeped and took me in. For mere less than 2 EUR he took me to the center, very close to my hostel and I could not be more grateful for him.

Sighnaghi is very small, but I understand why it is called a Love city - it is a very cute and picturesque town with a fortress, lots of wines and even more small cozy streets to stroll in. I walked almost if all before I took a little break. I was on my way out when an owner of my hostel told me he will give a glass of wine for me [his own, I couldn't possibly said no]. Before I knew it, I got two, one red, one white and so I just sat there, enjoying the view, reading my book and drinking a quite delicious wine. I am definitely liking this Love town and so far, only the great impressions of Georgia. Way to go!

             *              *                *

Being in Love or being in the Love city - everyone should try it at least once. One or the other. Best both. 

Love. Sometimes Love just isn't enough. And sometimes.. Love is al you ever going to need to keep going. 

          *                *                 *

.Chapter Six: The eternal magic of the land of fire - Azerbaijan.

Kids, don’t do what I did. Do not fly with Ukrainian International Airlines and do not fly from Lviv airport.
First they would not have any of those resealable bags for liquids to take or to buy and information did
not seem to care. If you don’t have it, tough luck. Then they would not let you board the plane with
trekking poles and force you to buy an expensive last minute check-in baggage, which by the way takes
forever [I think I had to wait for about 40 minutes in a queue of total maybe 5 people]. On top of that,
of course they were late, baggage was very slow and they broke one piece of my pole (still functions
fully, so at least I have that going for me), which is, of course, my own responsibility [somehow].

And then Baku. Oh, Baku, you magnificient beast! I have learned from my mistake of Kiev airport
struggles to find a way to get to my hostel that this time I booked a “shuttle”, which is really just a fancy
way of saying that I had a pre-called taxi waiting for me. Shout out to the driver, because he was nice,
but did not speak [I am not big on small talk] and let me enjoy my ride. Baku surprised me, because i
nstead of all sorts of nothing I was almost blinded by the lights. Skyscrapper here, skyscrapper there,
futuristic looking building here, some huge building other there. It did not look like Azerbaijan I was
expecting, more like one of the Arabic cities, like Dubai [never been, sure, but will be in a month, will
compare].

The next day I head out to see this wonder called Baku. It is impressing! I walked the huge very nicely
and tidy kept boulevard along the coast line, I checked out the old town, which reminded me a bit of
Turkey but was also very cute and in the end I went to the Heydar Aliyev Center, an arts sorf of place
with temporary exhibitions and very nice park right next to it.

On my way home I passed by the market, bought some tomatoes and cucumbers and made myself
one of the better tasting salad ever [or maybe I was just hungry? No, tomatoes were very super juicy
and full of taste]. I went to bed quite early then. The heat and the flying and coming in the town late made
me kind of tired.

The next day was not my day. It’s been three weeks on a road and today for the first time (on this trip I
may add, just to make it NOT sound too optimistic), some old creep tried to “feel me”. Way to go
Azerbaijan! Okay, I am being too harsh. Normally Azeri people were nothing but nice to me. My shuttle
from the airport was nothing is not a sweetheart. He did not try to engage in small talk, just drove the
speed limit and smiled when saying goodbye. Another guy paid for my ticket in a bus, because I did not
have a card I needed to have. Even today [jumping ahead of time], I sat next to a couple on a bench
[separate bench, but close by], so I said hello and started reading a book. A guy went away for a minute
and came back with three cold drinks - for him and his girlfriend and me. No asking money, no nothing,
he just from his own nicety bought me a drink, because it was a hot day. I did not know these people
existed! But anyways, the creep. I was in a bus and he sat next to me, normal. Then I was thinking that
he is keeping his hand oddly between him and me, that cannot be uncomfortable, still did not think
anything of it. But it’s a bumpy ride and that hand keeps moving [as we all are]. I thought I felt him
trying to touch me, but I may have been wrong [you are not going to start accusing people if you
are not sure, right?]. But I kept me eyes on him. The second time he did that I looked at his face,
he was pretending to be sleeping, of course, the fucker. Third time it was going to happen, I was
gonna slap his hand or say something [even if this is not my country and men definitely have
priority over women here], no old farting creep will touch me. But luckily for him [or me], he got
off at the next stop.

Unfortunately my bad luck with creeps did not end there. Another weirdo, young one sat next to me on
a bench in a park while I was reading a book and first started talking about his family, then how much
he likes me and loves me and how much he wants to kiss. And how he likes older woman. What is it
about me, that makes creeps think: this one, I will harrass this one?

Anyways, besides that, my day was pretty OK. In the morning I went to Gobustan, a place with ancient
pictures on the rocks [dating about 40k years before today]. It was nice, but I definitely expected it to be
better. In the afternoon I went to a carpet museum [yes, carpet]. It was interesting, since Azeris are very
famous for their hand made carpets, and I learned that kilim [kilimas in Lithuanian] is just a type of carpet,
not ALL of the carpets. Apparently. Not sure how the rest would be called.

In the evening I found a friend! A german guy, who is younger than me, and very talkative, but he likes
beer, so we spent the whole evening just sitting in a balcony talking talking talking over the beers. With
other people in hostel being from China [language barrier], or muslim/arabic countries [views differences],
we really hit it off.

Third and my last day in Baku I mainly spent in a bus. Well, many buses, but kept riding back and forth.
There are quite a few things to see not far from Baku, but you need to go to Koroglu metro station, there
is a bus station for rural areas on that side of Baku and you then take a bus to your destination. Then you
go back and take another bus, to another of your desired destinations. This is what I did. First destination
- fire temple. It’s an old’ish hindu temple with the fire burning in the middle of it. It’s not “to die for”, but it’s
nice. There I met four guys from the hostel, so we headed back to Koroglu and from there took another
bus to some castle. We were going through oil fields which you are not allowed to take pictures of [and
which we of course did], and unpleasant surprise when we got there - it was closed. But soon enough the
guy shows up with a key, let’s us in for around 6 EUR, locks the gate again, gives us a key and tell us to
enjoy. We did. We climbed the wall and we climbed the tower [not very safe both, but we managed not to
scrape any knees or necks] and then headed back. Two guys took off and the rest of us went to the “fire
mountain” or how to call that place, where there is about 10 meters length of burning fire coming just out
of the mountain. Again, not something to DIE for, but interesting enough. And the evening once again, I
spent with my new found german friend in a balcony talking until maybe 1a.m.

The next destination - Quba. I have been hearing many good things about it and honestly - it’s all crap.
It’s nothing special that Quba [maybe for it’s thousands of types of apples it is, but now is not the season
and so it is not]. But I did not know that so I went. I got there and got a taxi driver offer me a place at his
house [a separate room that they rent]. It was a quite old and poor house and I kind of felt bad for the
people, but what can I do? Otherwise they really reminded me of a Lithuanian village, where man works
and at home he gets served tea and food and does nothing else and woman does everything around the
house.

So in Quba I saw a synagogue, two mosques, an old hamam and a park [nicely made and clean, I
have to say]. The next day I have hired the same taxi driver to take me to Khinaliq. This place is not
very special, but it is interesting village in the mountains. The drive to there and from there is spectacular
though. Mountains green, mountains red, mountains white.. Amazing.

After my exploring of Quba and Khinaliq was over, I took of back to Baku, bought myself a ticket to
Ganja [yes, that is the name of the city, I am not joking] for an overnight train, walked a little around
Baku one more time, had some food and took off. In the train I met this Azerbaijani mother and daughter
in my plackart room that was very impressed by me travelling alone. On top of that she made her own
and her daughter’s bed, plus helped me [as if I couldn’t] and even made a bed for a man who was with
us [she did not know him, she’s just done it]. I mean, seriously, where are these kind generous people
coming from??

And now in Ganja. I have spent my morning with a book in a park because I felt it was too early to go
into hostel. Then I had some breakfast [really filled me up, probably going back there tomorrow], and
managed to walk the main attractions in a few hours. So tomorrow, I am guessing, I will be doing even
more of reading my book and not much else. Unless, of course, I will find some friends.

       *       * *

Off Topic

The casino at the end of the world seems deserted. Well not totally, there are still a few gamblers there
who are not really understanding what they are doing and expecting to win big, but I am only observing
them from the distance. I don’t even have the usual desire to go in and gamble with my life. I think I’m
done. I still have a few tokens up my sleeve, surely, but aren’t we all? If anything, the casino can cease
to exist right now and I would not miss it. I would probably think about it now and again, but once you
don’t lose when you bid your highest bet, certain things become insignificant. Or at least foggy.

       *      *   *

Chapter Five: Blown away by Ukraine

Kids, don't do what I did. Do not head for a hike, when you are only assuming that the whole tour group is going on it. The track might be unmarked, you might run out of time and you may need to literally run just to make the time for your bus. I survived of course, because I had maps.me app with the track on it, fast legs and some nice 3-toothed old guy who pointed me to the right direction, but so many wrong things could have happened...

Ukraine. Western Ukraine - definitely delivered.

I left Moldova after one last night hanging out with real people and enjoyed it to the bits, oh man, those are some great, even if a little crazy people. The 22 year old Dutch guy was my favourite - we bonded over cheap hipster kind of people and certain topics that should have never been elaborated. When this Indian guy started talking about girls dressing sleeveless tops and how they should not expect to be raped, so my kind of under my nose "should I start?" he just said "no" under his breath. This is the kind of people I want to round myself with for the future.

Anyways, I left Moldova to get back to Ukraine. In my mini bus I met this older architect guy who knew Lithuania quite well, because he was there a few times during Soviet times for work. It was hard to communicate with my rusty Russian, but nevertheless, it was interesting to listen to his stories. I came to Chernivtsi and that city blew me away. Such rich history and architecture. If you ever in doubt, don't anymore - go ahead and visit it. Nice small streets full of people and amazing buildings, plus a very helpful walking tour on a map - it was definitely one of the better places I have visited so far. I spent two and a half days there, and I did not get bored not even a little bit.

But I had to leave it to go to Lviv and I really did not have any expectations for it, but once I came, I was very pleasantly surprised - even more history and architecture, it's like walking in Vienna, but much cheaper. I have walked the sames streets over and over again, took some pictures, chilled at the parks, visited countless of churches and had some very nice foods. The hostel I am staying in charges me 3 Euros per night and it is in the very heart of the center. I think I will definitely have to come back here, sooner or later. I haven't experienced much of a night life here since hostel is full of older or Ukrainians, so I did not make any friends, but it looks like it has a whole lot to offer, day and night.

Today, however I took a little tour to Carpathians. I was very much against the tour, but there is not other way to get there, so there I was, in a bus, full of Ukrainians and 3 Polish people and we went to the mountains. A little disappointed, since it was less about mountains, more about old fortresses and souvenir shopping, but I did manage to get myself into an adventure. Guide was talking in Ukrainian so my understanding was limited. And I can swear I understood her saying that we will take a little trekking round and then get back to the bus. So I headed there. I was the only one. In the beginning it was an easy stroll, so I did not make much of it, but further I went, it became more and more challenging and I kept thinking - how these people with kids are planning on doing it. Well, they didn't, they all went for shopping and I was literally the only one on that track. Don't do that! I was the only one, no one knew where I was, I had a gps on me, but that was it. I was climbing up and don't the mountain, through the forest and got further than expected. Luckily I walk fast, so I managed to come back before they noticed my disappearance, but it freaked me out. What if I broke my ankle or something like that? No one knew I was there and no bars on my phone proved I was in the middle of nowhere.

But, as all good things end up good, I survived. Because I have a safety net. Or something like that.

Tomorrow off to Azerbaijan. Kind of excited and a little scared, I did not make enough research on the place. But Baku cannot be that bad, right? Let me check and get back to you.

      *         *          *

Off Topic

Don't be afraid. Climb the cliff, try unexpected and unknown. Fall in love. Dare to say "yes" and dare to believe that this is for real. Of course anything can happen, but be true to yourself. You can be an exception. And so can I.

"-.....I'm the exception...
-You are *my* exception" 

Chapter four: The wonderland called Moldova

Moldova, a place proved to me more exciting than I have anticipated. Of course, not just that.

I have been on this earth for 33 years, traveled numerous countries, slept in many many hostels, and only now, for the first time in my life I had the "pleasure" to meet the majestic queen of the bitchland - a f***ing bed bug. Everyone who knows me that well, knows what kind of fear and paranoia I have for these little fuckers [not even going to ask to pardon my French], so imagine my shakiness when I had to face one. On a plus side I found it in the bathroom, so hopefully it came dragged by someone else far far away from my bed, because I inspected the bed, hostel inspected the bed - nothing to be found in there. I still freaked, but in a cultural kind of manner - you would be proud. I did ask hostel to wash all my clothes in high temperatures and I am keeping my bag in the sun so if there are any left anywhere, they can suffocate from heat and die in a miserable way. And as a proper psychopath, I dealt with the one I met accordingly: first I flicked it on the floor, let it run around a little, watching as it was trying to find a good spot to hide. It looked scared, the little shithead. I looked closely at it, just to make sure I know what I am dealing with (technically I am still not 100% sure it was it, but what else would it be?) and then a thought came to my head: "Okay, I think it is enough for you to live" and I ended it's life with a slipper. Yikes, I really hate them. But every possible precaution has been taken, my stuff is officially bed bug free in a few hours and anything that had ANY contact with my bed is going straight to the trash bin. Not taking any risks and not taking any of those fuckers anywhere. 

Besides that, Moldova excites me. I came to my hostel in the afternoon, had a little walk around the city center - it's tiny, so that's not time consuming at all. And once back in the hostel I made three kind of crazy friends. We went for dinner and then, in a quite late evening hours [almost hitting a midnight] we have decided to take a little tour to an old jewish cemetery, because, why not? The German guy was in charge of taking us there, it was about 4 kilometers walk and surprise surprise when we got there - the gate was closed. But after walking this far we were not going to turn back empty handed. The cemetery was fenced by this thick, quite tall wall and what were we going to do? We were of course going to climb it. Somehow we split into twos, and South African guy I was with found a tree that helped us get in. We got luckier I guess. I scraped my knee, but at least we got in with no troubles. The other guys, on the other hand, got shouted at by some lady and were afraid some police will come after us. Police didn't show, so we walked the cemetery, mostly in dark. It was very old and very deserted, where the nature is kind of taking over, very interesting experience. Not sure if I recommend it to anyone, but I definitely enjoyed it to bits.

The next day me and South Africa went to Tiraspol, a capital city of Transnistria, which is not really recognized by anyone in the world. It's something a little out of ordinary, because you cross the border, they give you a migration card, once in, you exchange your regular money to their currency, that no one else is using [so you cannot exchange it back anywhere in the world as well], you can buy their own stamps, but if you want to actually send something via post, you need to buy Moldovan ones and so on. Once inside the city, it feels like the time has stopped - there's Lenin's statues, there's the Soviet smell and feel. Not much to do, but still interesting to see. 

The next day I went to a monastery in the valley. Or better yet, there is a monastery, that is not much to look at, but there's a beautiful valley next to it, so you can take a very easy [even if still very hot] hike along it on down at the valley itself. 

And here we are at the present day. I was thinking going to a winery tour, but I think this is out the window. So I think I will take a little easy stroll in the town, go into a park, read a book, try to be calm and relaxed. And then tomorrow back to Ukraine - the mountains. I have high hopes for it, but before I go, I need to survive an 8 hours bus drive there. Wish me luck!

Chapter Three: Odessa, oh Odessa

Kids, maybe don't do what I did. Don't leave for a backpacking trip after such life changing events.I will survive, of course, but still, maybe don't do it. 

Odessa, oh Odessa, a little marble ball of the Ukrainian coast. After two and a bit days in here I can say - I definitely like it. Sure, the beaches are bitterly overcrowded, in the evenings it looks just like main street in Palanga: music everywhere, people selling stuff, people buying stuff, walking around, but it has a lot of charm. It has this happiness in air that you cannot help but smile and enjoy your stroll through the little streets and boulevards. 

I went to the port to see a fantastic sunset with the cranes, I walked many many of their parks, it's amazing how much green this city has to offer, I read my book, I day dreamed and enjoyed being by myself. I even found a place with amazing suvlakis [pardon my spelling, not sure how to write Greek food name in Latin letters] for mere twelve DKK and it was almost as good as the one in the suburbs of Athens.

To people, I look local. They keep approaching me in Russian and Ukrainian and then look surprised when I struggle answering in what they think should be my native language. It's kind of funny really, considering how much effort local girls put into looking pretty and then there's me, in my trekking shoes, no make up, hair up and tight in a little bundle, but somehow I still look local. And those girls.. Ah, those beautiful insecure things [not things in a bad way], who need validation all the time from everyone. Must be so exhausting, but they still walk in high, sometimes super high heeled shoes, pretty dresses, lots of make up and artificial everything: nails, eyelashes, breasts, lips - I could go on. And that posing, for each picture, turning body sideways, putting one leg in front, arm over the non-existent tummy [to hide all possible imperfection caused by fat], it makes me laugh and at the same time sad - so much effort and in the end, they are still little insecure things who will do anything to get that needed validation. 

               *                *                *

Off Topic

I didn't know how to tell you. Still don't. I just did, you just don't know it yet. I just felt that I had to share it with you, because.. well, you know. Surely, it would have been much better over few hoegaardens in the tree, but now the tree is cut down and we are in different countries. And who knows when we will be in one again. Just keep the promise, will you? Only 27 years left. Or 28, we never decided who needs to turn 60. Who knows, maybe this time I will need to hold your hand for a change.

           *                 *                   *

Chapter two: Kiev

Kids, don't do what I did. Don't leave your place of stay without map, water, any kind of ID and bank cards with only equivalent of 20 EUR. Surely I survived, but still, don't do that.

Kiev. It's a beautiful city, full of churches and parks and I enjoyed my time here. It's also very interesting to see churches full of religious people, women with scarfs over their heads [what is God's problem with women hair?], both young and old, going around, praying, lighting candles, doing all kinds of things that are not easily understandable for me, but very entertaining to watch and observe. Parks are even better. Numerous people going and coming, staying and enjoying - it is really becoming a modern advanced city. I could maybe even imagine living here one day. Probably not, but I would put a red pulsating cross over it. 

Chernobyl exceeded all my expectation by quite a bit. Probably a lot thanks needs to be said to Chernobyl Tours dot com and our guide Igor [or Ihor] - it was full day of interesting facts and some little walks down the Soviet memory lane. Pripyat, now better known as a ghost town by the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant, reminds of home by a lot. Some buildings look just like the blocks in Klaipėda, ant the amusement park has the exact same Orbita like in Kaunas or little boats [laiveliai] in any of the city in Lithuania where they were put back in the day. I can only recommend taking a tour there - it is not the cheapest entertainment in Ukraine, but man, it is worth it. The history of it is also very heart breaking and moving - I knew some of it, but I definitely left my tour richer in knowledge.

Tomorrow I am leaving for Odessa. Let's see what it will bring. But I am sure Kiev can be a destination to return in the future. Will see.

         *            *             *

Off topic

You didn't believe in us enough for it to happen. And now there is no way back. I don't know how this trip will change me or what version of me will return back to life. But I know where it will not take me back. And I think I'm happy about it.

I'm still very blown away by the turns my life took right before I left. And occasionally, when I remember what I have done, I need to stop, remind myself to breath again and look at the bigger picture. But then the butterflies in my stomach start to go crazy and I start to think that I really only had two options: the right one and the one I did not pick.

And now there is only one way forward.

         *               *                 *