This post is written in English for Mantas.

 

 

 

Latvia

 

One of Baltic countries (Estonia, Lativa and Lithuania)

 

Capital is Riga, Population is about 2.2M,

Territory size is about 65,000㎢, 2/3 of South Korea.

has borders with Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus and Russia.

 

Official language is Latvian but you can use Russian much.

Because Latvia has gotton many influences from Russia still.

and more than 25% of population is Russian.

 

I have been to 2nd biggest city in Latvia, daugavpils, next to border of Russia, that city is like part of Russia.

My Latvian friends uses Russian more than Latvian and he said there are more Russian than Lativian.

 

I think this is not good because it seems they don’t have much independency from Russia.

Even USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was broken out.

 

In 2010, Latvian PPP GDP is about $14,000, less than 50% of South Korean’s

and Nominal GDP is about $10,000

 

Since Latvia joined EU, it had one of the highest GDP growth rates in EU.

But this was from consumption-driven growth with high private debt and negative foreign trade balance.

It made economic bubble and exploded at the time of economics crisis in 2008.

The 1st quarter of 2009, Latvian GDP dropped 18%. IT IS DEADLY SHOCK!

 

The situation is still bad. I am so sorry about this when I think about my Latvian friend.

 

Currency is LVL (Latvian Lats), country code is +371, domain is .lv

has 7 hours late time compared to Korea (6 Hours in case of summer time).

 

I came to Riga, Latvia again!

have been here for 3 or 4 times but it was only for transit on the way to Tallinn.

neven walked around Riga.

 

am going to take the flight from Riga to Oslo tomorrow evening!

 

Symbol of Riga for me.

When I pass Riga, i saw this every time.

 

Life’s Good.

Lucky GoldStar in the past.

 

There is a small stream next to Riga Bus Station.

 

Riga Bus Station.

 

was supposed to meet Mantas here but couldn’t find him at the station.

 

Mantas is my Lithuania friend. He took an exchange student for 6 months in my university, Kyunghee University.

We were classmate and he is working in Riga now.

 

after 10 minutes, he came and we headed to Mantas’ House.

 

We took the train.

 

This photo was taken on the bridge, train.

 

 

Mantas cooked spaghetti. It was so delicious.

 

 

I was surprised that Mantas has this book.

Name is ‘nothing to envy’, in Korean, ‘부러움이 없어라’

It is the propaganda motto of fucking North Korean government.

 

This book is about life in North Korea.

The writer made this book by testimonies from the people who escaped from North Korea.

 

Mantas said, ‘I was really shocked because the things written in this book are incredible.’

 

I could understand what he felt  but it was wholy truth and fact.

North Korean people are really poor and I am very sad and angry when I think about the situation in North Korea.

But I can’t see the any clues of re-unification of South and North Korea.

The political situation of east asia is getting worse and

Two pigs, Jungil Kim and Jungeun Kim, never want it. also China.

 

China is exactring every resource and buying out many things in North Korea nowadays.

and North Korea will be empty can in few decades. This is wholly shit!

 

Anyway I want death of Jungil Kim ASAP.

after this, there will be big change in North Korea.

am not sure whether this change will be good or not but I need something different.

becuase I can’t see any hope in nowadays’ situation.

 

Ah, I think they have to change the motto from ‘Nothing to Envy’ to ‘Everything to Envy’

 

next day, we went city tour!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animal band of Bremen?

 

Everybody was touching their mouths.

 

They are so pity because the mouths will be gone in the future.

 

 

We took ‘Yellow Bag’ city guide tour.

This is free and operated by tip-basis.

 

You can give tip after tour but it is not obligatory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 1st public toilet of Riga.

 

 

Latvian Academy of Sciences.

 

Its nickname is ‘Stalin’s Birthday Cake’

(Stalin is 2nd head-clerk of USSR. Head-clerk is like a president.)

I don’t know why and can’t find the information about this on the web.

Maybe the building opened on the date of Stalin’s birthday?

 

It was built in the period of USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics).

and you can see buildings like this in the region of USSR.

For example,  Warsaw and Moscow.

 

 

I have seen this many times in the TV and video!

so nice to see again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guide tour was finished like this.

 

There was almost nothing to see.

little disappointed.

 

There was in Korean girl in the guide tour.

 

She was heading to Russia to take the trans siberian railway.

But she didn’t have any idea and information about that.

 

I helped her because I am the EXPERT of trans siberian railway, HAHA.

 

 

Mantas, Juhee Jeon and me.

 

Have a nice trip and see you in Korea!

 

After saying good-bye to her, Mantas and I went to one district.

 

There are many buildings with facial sculptures.

 

 

 

This place is the best for me in Riga. I like here very much!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it a robot?

 

 

 

 

 

After this, we came back to Mantas’ house.

 

He cooked spaghetti one more time for me.

 

ate then came out from the house to go to airport.

 

We were waiting for the bus but it didn’t come for long time.

and we got heavy rain suddenly. jumped into the restaurant next to bus stop.

 

When I got into, the chef of the restaurant asked me ‘Where are you from?’.

I said, ‘South Korea’. then he started to talk about South Korea.

He knows quite many things about my country. We had a long talk.

 

The bus didn’t come finally. decided to take a taxi to airport.

 

Mantas paid for me because I didn’t have any Lats.

Thanks so much!

 

Came to airport!

 

We said ‘good-bye!’

 

I don’t know when we can meet again.

Maybe next year? Anyway, we will see somewhere in the world someday!

 

Next desination is Norway then North Pole!!!!! Hooray!!!

 

=)