8/17/10

Roasted In Riga


There are days down the road when the body just surrenders and you feel ill. It happened to me while in India last year and it did happen again. It started with a sore throat during our last day in Tallinn. Unfortunately, lozenges wasn't part of our travel medication kit so I ran to a pharmacy just before boarding the bus to Riga. Thankfully, I had a restful 5-hour bus journey, helped by the fact that the roads were pretty much smooth all the way - a necessity for European Union member countries.

The Boiler Room

Once in Riga, we were disappointed to find our hotel room wasn't airconditioned. Worse, it's even warmer than the one we stayed at in Tallinn. It never occurred to me prior to this trip that most of the lodging options (except for high end hotels) in northern Europe don't find airconditioners important what with the short summers they have. I looked at our cramped $45/night-accommodation and felt sorry for ourselves having to endure this, never mind if breakfast is already included. I dread at the thought that my sore throat will escalate into something.

Losengid:
para gid sang sore throat

And it did. That night, a really warm night, I felt chills and my bones hurting. My skin felt warm and I thought it was just because of the warm room temperature. Erwin felt my skin and declared I have fever. Oh my! No wonder our first dinner that evening in Riga - a supposedly good traditional meal - didn't register well on my palate. Nothing seem to taste good at all. Erwin dressed up to go to some bar later that night yet I could barely summon my energies to go to the bathroom. I took a Paracetamol and hope to sleep my sickness away.

Riga is hot and so is my body.

Riga Feels The Heat

Our traditional Latvian meal: braised beef with herbs and stewed pork with vegetables & cheese. Sadly for me, nothing tasted good with fever.

Look what I found the next morning: my friend Erwin sleeping on the floor next to our room's open refrigerator. Talk about instant cool! (except that hotel management will not be happy to find a spike in their electricity bill).

14 comments:

  1. we take airconditioning for granted in this country where it's automatic for a hotel/motel to have AC.

    that's what i've been fearing when i travel that i get sick. thankfully aside from cough and colds (bangladesh) i didn't run any fever but i was barking the whole time i was vacationing.

    are you back yet?

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  2. I hope you were able to shake off the bug in your system. Getting sick on the road is a bummer. Take care of yourself.

    Your travel style is my kind of thing when I was younger. Now I am one of those senior tourists being led on the way by a flag waving tour guide LOL. Once in a while, I still go off freestyle and wing it along the way but that is no longer the norm.

    I wished I've seen Tallin bike level like you did instead of being shepherd like a school kid from place to place.

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  3. Getting sick is every traveler's fear. I remember I did that exact cooling strategy of your roommate many summers ago in Manila.

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  4. i've been following your blog a lot! nice site and the pic with your friend and the ref was really fun! wish i could travel as much as you.. :)

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  5. Ah, the lack of air-conditioning. That's pretty much the default in Europe's not-so-high-end hotels. It was the same experience for me when I was in Helsingør. And what's worse was that the window was facing west, and so the afternoons were so hot.

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  6. I can feel the heat from your post. Hope you feel better by now. Great shot for the biker! I like the last photo and idea too!

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  7. Photo Cache,
    oh yes, I'm already back. But I'm really backlogged. Will slowly catch up, hopefully.

    Bert,
    I think I see myself going in the same direction as you are - less roughing it up trips in the future.

    Witsandnuts,
    As Bert said, it's a bummer even if I had a trip/health insurance with me.

    Shiella,
    A big thanks to you. Didn't know you were a lurker hehehe.

    Linguist,
    So you know very well what we went through. I remember our room in Tallinn also faced west so we tried going back in late in the day.

    Micki,
    It was really an unusually hot summer day in Riga.

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  8. hahaha... i hope there wont be a time when we can cook barbecue from the normal daytime sun.

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  9. hahaha, ang talino ng friend mo..
    i feel sorry for you. mahirap nga may sakit while traveling, limited bigla yung activities dahil low energy..

    check ko yung india entry. Ü

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  10. Hi there. I got to know about your blog from a high school friend, Pol Hilay. I'm based in Davao and I'm traveling to Europe next month -- that's why Pol recommended your blog to me. Great reads! :)

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  11. Lol, natawa naman ako sa last photo at sa explanation mo. As in ramdam ko ang init sa Riga sa paglalahad mo. Pati kaw nilagnat.

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  12. Dong,
    Pag nagkataon, baka pati tayo na-barbeque na rin, wag naman :)

    Chyng,
    Mukhang may balak ka yatang mag-India. Go there Chyng, di ka magsisisi.

    Blogie Robillo,
    I'm originally from Davao and that's how I get to know Paul. Thanks for dropping by. Will be checking your blog.

    Redlan,
    mabuti na lang, isang gabi lang yung lagnat ko at the next day, pinahiram na kami ng electric fan.

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  13. hala si kuya oh nag bukas na ng ref! wais! goodluck sa elec bill nya hihi :P

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  14. haha the last photo ... gosh.. must have been reallly hot to have needed to do that!

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