Weekend getaway at Kaunas (2nd to 4th Feb)

It wasnt exactly fun for one to be up at 5am in the morning but i did it with great anticipation as i embarked on my journey to Skavsta Airport in Stockholm, all set for a weekend getaway at Kaunas (Lithuania). This happens to be my first trip out of Sweden and the fact that my air tickets only cost me 2SEK made it even more satisfying. Anyway, the journey to the airport took me 2.5 hours and i did it by asking around and figuring out my way there. By the time i got to Skavsta, i was really early and had to wait another 2 hours for duan and his friends. They were really nice and friendly, most of them from NUS too.. apart from 2 Italians and 1 Canadian.

This is what Linkoping looks like at 5am.. Not a single soul in sight...

Check out those sleepy eyes.

Skavsta's really a small airport which serves only budget airlines around Europe like ryanair and wizzair... the flight there was pretty alright.. the aircraft was actually a Boeing 737... Arrived at Kaunas within an hour or so and everything seemed to be so rushed as the bus was arriving soon.. After grabbing a local map from the Kaunas airport and doing some asking around (as usual) on board the bus, we finally made it to the town.. Due to some minor screwups and miscommunication (the Lithuanians speak really lousy English), we only managed to get to our rented apartment at 4pm in the afternoon... But i must say the apartment was fantastic... super spacious and equipped with most stuff... supposedly a 6-person apartment but it accomodated 9 of us comfortably! What's more it's really cheap... just 30sgd for 2 nights... LOL..

Skavsta Airport:

Waiting.. waiting.. bored!~=(

A look at the surroundings of my lodging:

Make a guess what's this!

Check out my apartment:

New Friends: Kudus, Fabian, Jackson and Marcus from Italy..

1 out of 3 of the rooms.

The rest of the day was just spent walking around the city for nice restaurants and nightspots for us to chill... the weather at Kaunas is comparable to that in Sweden, cold winds blowing throughout the night... and i must say the central is like a ghost town.. even on a friday night... the streets were really empty with occasional passers-by brushing past us...

Me and duan having our first meal in Kaunas..

Passed by a Casino along the main street... there are several casinoes around the area...

Kudus, Fabian and me savouring some piping hot kebab while out in the cold streets...

The next day was spent mostly walking around the town again... exploring the shops around the area, scouting for cheap stuff which we can bring back to Sweden.. finally the city seemed less dead on a Saturday afternoon and we saw a few of the familiar big names like Nike, Adiddas, MNG and Sisley... but the stuff that they were selling were no less expensive... we actually witnessed a demonstration against capitalism by some young punks... havent seen such stuff in Sweden before.. Tried some Lithuanian cuisines along the way and decided to walk down to the Old Town instead to take pictures and explore the Kaunas Castle which wasnt really that exhilarating frankly speaking... so we ended up going back to our apartment empty-handed..

Kudus' sourvenir from Kaunas was a brochure by the demonstrators.. lol..

Lithuanian pork-chop.. coated with an omelette.. Good Stuff!

Now for the Old Town:

Finally had the chance to wear my shades..

Kaunas Castle

On the whole, Kaunas is really boring... except for some of the cheap goods like groceries and alcohol.. what's more exasperating is not being able to communicate effectively in English with the locals! But it's been really fun hanging out with the new guys!=)

Graffiti's really common in Lithuania...