For its page about Vilnius, Couchsurfing chose the photos of the most handsome and attractive couchsurfers in that city.
Guess whose photo they picked for the number one spot of that gallery?
Exactly. That’s me.
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While hiking through Gauja National Park in Latvia, I spotted this toilet from afar. “Great,” I thought, “I don’t need to leave these yellow graffiti in the snow today.”
As I walked closer though, the toilet hut seemed to shrink.
When I finally reached it, I noticed that not only would that particular toilet not be of much help to me, but I also knew that I had discovered the Land of Lilliput – or at least its toilets.
I am going to write about my walk to that forest in a week or so, but in the meantime I’d like you to guess where it is. If someone gets it right, you will win a prize of my choosing.
UPDATE: The mystery has been solved.
Very energy-efficient:
This is in mid-March. If I am (un)lucky, it will still be working in May. And then again from October onward.
(Photographed during a short rest on my hike through Gauja National Park in Latvia.)
I am not fat, but I am not thin either. I have never been particularly concerned about my weight, as I measured my health by my ability to walk or run long distances. In my book, whether you are fat or thin, you are in top condition if you can run for a few hours without a break. I can.
Other reasons to lose weight also failed to convince me. It would make me look more attractive. So what? I don’t need that, I am happy with myself. It would reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. True, but if I stop eating all these chocolate cakes I will have a miserable and unhappy life. Happiness is more important than longevity.
But it all changed yesterday.
Look at these steps:
This was on the way back from Lithuania’s highest mountain to Medininkai. The steps on the left of the photo are mine, the steps on the right are those of a friend with whom I was doing this hike (he is on a mission to go to the highest points of all countries in Europe). While he was floating over the snow like a fairy, progressing not a bit slower than he would on a hard surface, I sank into the snow with every step. With every step, my feet got colder as my shoes filled with snow and ice. Sometimes I sank into the snow up to my knee. It slowed me down, it wore me out. It was also a depressing experience.
I was not wearing any heavy backpack which I could blame for that performance. The only difference between us was that my weight is around 80 kg and my friend’s weight is 55 kg.
On that trip, I finally found a compelling reason to lose weight. Alternatively, I could move to a country without snow.
(Es gibt auch eine deutschsprachige Version dieses Artikels.)
Why “FUCK YOU!”, if there is also a short version?
The next time somebody at your office or in your organisation goes on for hours about something which could be summed up in a few sentences, send him/her this photo.
(Discovered at the train station in Sigulda in Latvia.)
Sad: Seeing this teenager putting so much time and effort into perfecting a skill which society won’t appreciate and knowing that in 10 years’ time he will be bossed around by one of his former classmates who is much more boring but who used the same time to study for the maths exam instead of playing with knives.
If you asked me “how was your day today?”, I could tell you that
You would probably feel sorry and you would imagine a very ugly and sad neighbourhood.
Yet I, with my strange taste, find beauty in this, especially at this time of day when the night takes over. Let me show you why:
I sometimes feel like living on a film set. By the way, these Krushchovkas are really warm and cozy on the inside.
(C) All photos were taken by Andreas Moser at or around Savanorių prospektas in Vilnius, Lithuania on 3 March 2013.
No wonder I got slightly lost on my walk from Druskininkai to Grutas (both of which are in Lithuania), with sign posts like these.
But luckily I had glanced at a map before I set out and so I could figure out approximately where I was and could stick to the direction I had to take. It was a beautiful if strenuous 8-km walk through a lonesome snow-covered forest and across frozen lakes.
The Happy Hermit 