The Balkans Rule - the Baltics DROOL!

I've officially decided that the whole "Seeing the World" thing is totally overrated. Screw it... from now on, I'm going no further than the Balkans where, above all its other amazing attributes, THE PEOPLE ARE FRIENDLY!!

I'm on the bus getting the Hell out of Vilnius, and not a moment too soon! How I regret leaving sweet Estonia with its saunas and nice old towns and good dancers! I'm hoping that Lithuania will redeem itself over the next two days when I'm out of its truly shit capital!

Last night, my dinner was pretty good. I had pork, mashed potatoes, brocooli and carrots, all kind of mixed up in a stew-type mess (yummy, though), and 2 half beers, and read my Salman Rushdie book. I left the restaurant at 8:30 and walked through the creepy streets, kinda wanting to go into a bar for a drink and a chat. But the bars were full of people sitting in closed little groups, totally intimidating, and even when I stopped at The Dubliner pub and asked two English guys for a lighter, they just lit my cigarette and turned away. I got a little lost for a while and decided being in bed (sorry, being in pod) at 9:30 was better than dying a creepy death in Vilnius. It's the only place I've been in where the thought actually crossed my mind more than once that if I was being mauled by one of its creepy street urchins, the whole town would probably stand around and watch!

When I got back to the hostel, the VERY weird American guy who seems to live there was hanging around being weird, and then a couple of girls came downstairs and told the reception lady that there was an old drunk man passed out in their room. I just knew it had to be my room, and sure enough, I went upstairs and on the couch, right beside my pod, there was an old guy, sprawled in a drunken stupor with a bottle of vodka below him. The American tried like a fool to communicate with him, and then the reception lady started speaking in Lithuanian to him, and told us not to worry, he'd just go to sleep and not bother us. It was an ironic turn of events, seeing as the first thing I noticed when I got into the hostel was the sign saying drunk people would be kicked out immediately.

I wanted to go to the bus station to catch the sooner bus the Hell out of Vilnius, and I wished I hadn't already paid so I could pull a runner the way Christina and I did in the Nazi hostel in Sibiu.

There was one other guy in our room; an Aussie who has been living in Japan for a few years. He and I started chatting and went down to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and chat. He was a nice guy, but we never got past the "I want to talk all about my travels" level of conversation that dear Michael Ruhfus identified in some solo travllers.

At 11:30, I went out for a final smoke, checked my email, and went to pod. As weird as the pod is, I had a nice sleep because the mattress and pillows were very comfortable. I guess I'm all for the pod revolution!

This morning, I got up at 10:00 and scurried out of the hostel. I'd wanted to go to the KGB museum before I left, plus buy Mom an amber gift, but the bus station was close and I was more than ready to leave.

The ticket desk woman at the bus station and the information woman were both horrible, rude bitches who kept trying to shuffle me to someone else so they didn't have to listen to my offensive English. I actually had to get a bit snarky with them to make them sell me a ticket. Finally, I was able to buy a ticket to Siauliai, and I got out!

I'm now 3 1/2 hours into a bus ride that Lonely Planet had promised only took a little over an hour. Fucking Lonely Planet has really pulled a fast one on me!