Kemeri Raised Bog - Latvia

Guest Traveller: Christopher Olney from Lismore, New South Wales, Australia.

Favourite Travel Destination: Kemeri Raised Bog, Latvia.

..."So you're in a strange country and you feel like the 'commies' are looking over your shoulder. No one speaks English and all of the food menus are just weird gibberish... so what do you do??? Go for a walk in the National Forrest alone of course...

I caught the train from Riga, the capital city of Latvia and headed out west to where a brochure said a tourist information centre was. After walking an hour or so down a dirt track, I came across a building that was midway through construction. From what I could understand there would be no info. centre for at least a few months. One of the men working on the building pointed me in another direction where I came across a group of people who seemed to be studying the sticks on the ground. Slowly through a combination of broken English and German I found out that the national park was about 2 hours walk back the way I'd just come!

I set out anew with my crudely drawn map and directions in hand, wondering if I would ever see the forest. I didn't mind though, as the dilapidated buildings dotted throughout the countryside were just as interesting. I finally got to the forest only to find that it was actually a Bog. It was fascinating...

Tiny dwarfed trees stretched across the landscape to the horizon, and the sky seemed larger than life. It had a primordial feel, like something that forgot to evolve along with the rest of the planet.

The weather couldn't make up its mind and was stuck in this strange combination of a beautiful sun and rain tango. But the thing that made it, were the reflections on the water.

When the wind stilled, huge billowing clouds were reflected in the Bog ponds perfectly and the ground seemed like some distorted dimension between worlds. You gotta love the unexpected..."..

What's Up with Ireland?

I went back to Ireland recently for a short visit as part of a longer trip. I've never really been impressed with Ireland, probably because I seem to land there after travelling through mainland Europe and the UK. And after their spectacular scenery and structures, Ireland tends to pale in comparison. I find it similar to parts of Australia and Scotland, and I would rate it as 'interesting' and 'pretty' rather than 'breathtaking'. The main charm of Ireland is often it's people (depending on who you meet!) and its history.

After writing all that I looked back at my photos and have to admit parts of Ireland are reeeeeeally pretty and they have some fantastic old buildings.

The Cliffs of Moher

During this third visit I noticed some huge changes. It seems Ireland is 'sweeping out the old' in a big way. The landscape is littered with brand new houses standing on their own small acreage, and many of the more traditional and historic homes are gone. Most farms have a small herd of cattle (very small compared to Australian standards) and they don't sell the calves for veal as they do in Australia.

This Bed and Breakfast is an example of the 'new' Ireland. It seemed to us when driving around as if everyone there had won the 'lotto. Then we found out a major reason for this new found wealth. Things have been going very well for Irish farmers since joining the European Community. They are given huge farming subsidies (Australian farmers get bugger all) and a lot of that money is going into knocking down the more historical buildings and replacing them with these 'McMansions'. Consequently it looks like everyone wants to be a farmer. Their farms/herds seem to be of a size which must be the 'qualifying' minimum.

Irish cities still retain a lot of their character, but large housing estates are springing up at the outskirts and they feature rows of COMPLETELY IDENTICAL houses. I don't know how people remember which house is theirs!

It's a different Ireland to the Ireland I first visited in 1993. Maybe a better place to live, but not necessarily a better place to visit.

The Darker Side of Travel - Part 2

My second travel 'incident' (robbery) occurred in Madrid. We were travelling with a company called 'Busabout' at the time because it was a way of experiencing a large part of Europe without having to find our own transport. 'Busabout' is a hop on, hop off bus network, largely aimed at young people and although we were a bit older than most, it was convenient.

Anyway, we were in Madrid for the second time because our travel agents in their infinite wisdom had told us that we didn't need a visa to travel to the Czech. Republic when in fact we did. (I believe these visas are no longer necessary.) To get a visa while we were travelling we had to go to the Czech. Republic Embassy in Madrid, drop some forms off, and return again over a week later. Thus the second visit.

We were staying in cheap and nasty accommodation in a dodgy part of the city (as was much of the accommodation 'Busabout' arranged) and were on our way to visit one of the large parks in the area. As always we tried to be security conscious, i.e. watch out for dubious characters, locks on our day packs etc. but once again the unexpected happened.

My friend was walking slightly behind me and was stopped by two ladies carrying flowers. One of the women was heavily pregnant. They offered her a flower and were telling her to go to some festival that afternoon. They indicated they were working for the city. My friend was trying to find out what the heck they were on about. I stopped walking and waited for them to go, but then they started asking if we had any foreign coins they could swap for one of theirs as a souvenir. It was the wrong question to ask me. I collect coins from other countries so I could empathise with the request, and I knew I had a couple of foreign coins in my purse. (Stupid, stupid, stupid....) I took off my day pack, unlocked the padlock and got out my purse. I remember a local walking past shaking his head but at the time I just wanted to get rid of them. I opened my purse looking for the coin when she swooped.... She rammed her hand into my purse, pulled out the only note there (a large note) and they disappeared like a puff of smoke. She actually left her very small denomination coin behind!

Once again we had been duped by the unexpected. We walked on to the park while I was verbally berating myself for being so stupid. I threw her coin into the bushes and stormed around for the rest of the day, angry with myself for being taken in again.

Now looking back on the two incidents I realise that we were relatively lucky after all. Both incidents were about taking money or possessions. Luckily we had not been hurt as many people who are robbed are, and the possessions could be replaced. The moral is that when you're travelling you can't be ready for everything that might happen. You can be careful but that's all. Many thieves make a living out of travellers - and dreaming up unexpected ways of divesting you of your possessions is what they spend their lives doing.