Klaipeda - Day 1

I purchased my bus ticket yesterday, and was thus prepared to arrived at the station for the 10:35 bus to Klaipeda. Before leaving, I quickly stopped at the internet cafe to add an extra day in Riga to my reservation. The bus took about four hours, and it was quite a boring journey, with the Lithuanian countryside being quite dull. The hostel I booked is right next to be bus station which is convenient. Two other people from my bus were also booked into this hostel - the only one in Klaipeda. When I got to the hostel, the lady there had no idea about me and the others' reservations, saying that we were supposed to received a confirmation from the owner who is on holiday. Of course that is nonsense as I have made bookings with hostelworld before and have never had to do this. She asked to see our confirmation email from hostelworld. Not a good start to my time here, and I am very concerned as to whether this hostel will be decent or not. It seems okay physically though. I quickly headed off to the old town to look around and inquire about renting a bike for tomorrow to bike down the Curonian spit. Klaipeda is a very nice town, and the weather is very warm, much warmer than in Vilnius.

I went to dinner at a Lebanese restaurant recommended in my book. It was a bit strange, as I say in a very dark pit-like room surrounded by people using hookah pipes. However, the food was very good, and I had the best falafel I've ever eaten there. The food here is also cheaper than in Vilnius. After finishing dinner, I biked back to the hostel, only to find the front door locked! I had to wait a good fifteen minutes for someone who lived in the building to come and open it. When I got in to the hostel I found that the hopeless reception staff had left for a bitand only left one guest there top hold the fort. Not professional. The guy there was a Czech guy who spoke good English, and we chatted for a bit. Eventually we and two Germans went out for a drink. I didn't order anything alcoholic, but rather ordered kvass, a drink made from bread. It tasted like bread. When we got back to the hostel, most of the guests had returned from their day trips. I was a little surprised to see that the guests included a fifty-something woman and a middle-aged, obese, bald Indian man. He walked around with his shirt off. A horrible sight! Why would anyone over the age of thirty stay in a hostel? It utterly baffles me.