Woof

Well I woke up this morning a little worse for wear. Last night me and Pete met up in Kallio in the seediest street where I was on Monday. There was what appeared to be a punk rock/hip hop some kind of seedy club I had walked by. My hostelmate bailed on me as he didn't want to spend the money to hit a bar. No worries.

So I walk the seedy district to an Internet cafe/bar called Viva La Vida to wait for Pete. It was pretty cool little geeky dive with student wearing more punkish clothes and some with their face painted. They had some game controllers and everyone was drinking. It had a distinct geek vibe that I enjoyed. When I recontacted Pete to see where he was, he said he was walking down the street. So I headed out to intercept him. Since he was busy typing on his phone, I said "pssssst heroin..." as he was walking past. He said no thank you, then did a double take. I guess I just have that creepy druggie vibe goin on.

So we headed back to the place covered in graffiti over painted black with dingy red fluorescent lights on the outside. There was a huge crowd of people smoking outside so we dived in. It was much nicer inside, though the bathroom was nasty and had a couple decades of graffiti in layers on the walls. The beer was cheap and the place was a kind of dive/hipstery bar. We meet up with a guy named Pitre and ended up drinking all sorts of Finnish liquor specialties and talking economics and politics. We did shots with folks, some couple invited us back to his place for some blow (eerrrr... no thanks), and just had a complete blast. I wanted to see about hitting the sauna so I left around 1:30.

I had a shitty time with a cab driver trying to fleece me. I asked him how much to get to where my hostel was and he quoted 15 euro. Then he immediately started driving in the opposite direction. I asked him what the fuck he thought he was doing. He eventually pulled a u turn, then tried it again when getting near the hostel. He drove past the turn off and was heading down the street. I got him to stop and I only had a 20 euro bill. Grrrr. I got change so he didn't fleece me that bad. I think threatening to call the cops did it. Cest la vie.

So woke up at 8, but was not in shape to hit a sauna. I don't get hangovers like most people. I don't get headaches. I just end up feeling sick to my stomach for a long time. Its noon and I'm still feeling ill. A lot of it is exposure to cigarette smoke while drinking though. The mix really messes me up and I was talking to folks outside in the smoking area.

So I'm gingerly drinking a Coke and reading a book, hoping to settle my stomach to I can head out again.

Welp I got settled enough to wander out and hit the downtown area. I'm still looking for a nice scarf but I'm not seeing a hell of a lot for men. I guess its just not a thing here for whatever reason. Meh. So I managed to get down some pea soup and a small salad. After that I walked around a bit to see if that would settle things down. <sigh> Not really. So I headed back to the hostel.

I set up guided tours and transportation from the railway stations and back. I just want to be safe in Russia and make sure nothing goes wrong. I'll probably feel better about things once I get there, but in the meantime - I want my bases covered. So I had to figure out some way to sign some paperwork, scan it, and send it back to the travel agency. The gal down at the front desk was able to help me out with that, so I'm set. I'm in my grubbies and things are finally starting to smell good. So I ordered some ravioli with spinach, cheese, and ham in a marinara sauce with some nachos from the restaurant in the hostel.

I'm thinking its going to be a chill the hell out kind of night, so I'll just get the night sauna and sit in there my meal. Then maybe watch one of the movies on my Netbook. so, lumping it in Finland tonight.

Wow. The sauna made me want to redouble my efforts to turn the spot next to the Green Room into a wood burning sauna. The one at the hostel will only fit about six guys, so its pretty small. Right outside of it are three showers. The are also BallMats(tm). A clothish paper towel that will just prevent your balls and taint from sweat on the seat. I probably committed a faux pas by not using one when I first came in. I simply didn't notice until folks got up that they were being used.

So the idea of a sauna is pretty cool. Get in there. Throw water on the heated rocks until its where you can barely stand the heat, then throw more on. Stay in there a long as your can stand it, then go out and turn on the cold water in the shower. Repeat 3-4 times. The idea is to sweat everything out of your body. Its works great if you have a cold.

Also makes you tuckered out really quick. G'night folks.