Did you know…

..that Budweiser, the original American beer, is actually Czech?? Please welcome Budvar..

my favourite Budvar dark:

It is produced in the same manner as original Premium Lager with the use of the finely selected Žatec hop, Moravian melt, water from 300 m deep Artesian wells and three types of special colour barley malt: munich, caramel and roasted. It is characterized by its significant bark colour, dry, fine bitter caramel flavour without dominant sweetness, The flavour is made delicious by the roasted malt.

At CZ48 for a pint, this pint cost about £0.80…Ahhh..what else do you need?

Does your neck of the woods look like this?

Or this?

Boating house

View from campsite

pebbly lake

More pix in the next post after full upload.

A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East

It was 1976 when Tiziano Terzani was warned by the fortune-teller in Hong Kong: “Beware! You run a grave risk of dying in 1993. You mustn’t fly that year. Don’t fly, not even once.” Sixteen years later, Terzani had not forgotten.

Despite living the life of a jet-hopping journalist, he decided that, after a lifetime of sensible decisions, he would confront the prophecy the Asian way, not by fighting it, but by submitting. He also resolved that on the way he would seek out the most eminent local oracle, fortune-teller or sorcerer and look again into his future.

And this is his story.

Amongst many of my varied ‘hobbies’ I had always enjoyed reading. I read all sort of crap, from shampoo bottles to shakespear to Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King with a peppering of Mary Higgins Clark and Michael Connelly. When I picked this book up at my local library 5 weeks ago, it was more due to boredom rather than anything else. Up to then, I had not read any travel books,preferring to explore places myself.

And I have been rereading this book numerous times in the past 5 weeks.I had not done this since I was 11.

With a sublime love of Asia, Tiziano had lived in Japan, Peking, Hong Kong…the list goes on. This story outlines his travels by sea and land throughout 1993, exploring Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore. This book opened my eyes that there is more to travelling than snapping pictures and eating. The most important thing of anywhere in the world is the people. The people created the culture of the country, and it is with the people that the culture has evolved.

A few of my favourite quotes:

On Malaysia:
Where was the Malaysia of 20 years ago? The women in sarongs, wearing brassieres that always seemed a size too small,and skin-tight lace blouses?Where were the rich colors and bodies whose joy seemed to reflect nature’s?Swept away by the Islamic austerirty?…But then, to defend themselves against the overwhelming economic power and materialist culture of the Chinese, the Malays began slavishly following Islam, They took away their women’s sarongs and gave them veils and loose two piece gowns, and shut themselves up in the citadels of their mosques.

…Now,there are no communism, but the races are mutually hostile. The Chinese have become richer and the Malays more numerous.

On Singapore
Once upon a time,even in Singapore, shools taught children how to think. Now they mainly teach them how to programme. But what happens to a society that grows up like this, without learning to make distinctions, with only the computer’s logic of Yes or No?What happens in the heads of children who grow up with the impressiont hat every problem has a solution and that everything is at most a question of software?

Singapore scared me because to a great extent it already works that way. The state is the computer and society is regulated, like the temperature,by sort of electronic thermostat.

On China
This old empire still calls itself socialist,but by now even China seemed to know only one god. ‘Qian’ was the first word that greeted me,qian was money, was the word i heard in every conversation during the five days I spent crossing China from south to North.

On Betong (border of Malaysia & Thailand):
Profiting from the proximity of Malaysa with its immense market of men sexually repressed by Islamic puritanism, Betong has developed on of the most profitable of all industries,prostitution. The services are provided by Thais, the clientele exclusively Malay. Betong is brothel city.

On Indonesia:
The Chinese consitute barely 2% of the population but 70% of the country’s trade is in their hands, and the top 5 industrial groups and the major banks are theirs…

There I had the whole story of the chinese diaspora.Strong, tough,hardworking, always ready to move on and adopt the passport of any state that would guarantee them security and protection. One of the new ways of making money is to build, to cover everything in cement. By now their influence extends all over asia. They have destroyed Bangkok. Soon they will do the same with Rangoon, Hanoi and every other city which they have access. It is the diaspora chinese who, with their massive investments,are now remaking coastal cities of China in their own image. They are the new models of success, heroes of the Chinese youth disoriented by the failures of Maoism, The chinese of the diaspora seemes to me more and more lik missionaries of that materialism from which I was trying to escape..

Looking for a book to accompany you on your next flight? Only reading a book a year? Think you are an experienced traveller? This book will open your mind and expand your horizons, his engaging style will change your minds of an Asia filled with pirated DVDs, prostitution and a dead soul.

PS: This is not a paid post - I really, really like it!

Prague- the city of a million spirals.And honey cake. Cheap beer. And rude service staff.

Central Prague is composed of 4 different ‘areas’ = New town, Old town (includes Jewish Quarter) , Lesser Town & Prague Castle.It has got to be one of the most walkable cities in the world; everything/everywhere is abour 20 minutes walk away. Not knowing this, we purchased the 220kc/£5.50 three day all public transport ticket at the airport. This includes the 30minute bus ride to the nearest metro station from the airport, and another 4 stops to the Mustek station,right in the centre of New Town.

And probably my first time not taking a taxi or being picked up from the airport. It is suprisingly easy to get to the centre of Prague by public transport (Bus 119 to Dejvicka metro stop) - comparatively to our 20kc ride; a taxi cost 700kc and a minibus costs 490kc. So yeah, all in all a bargin, ableit a little claustrophobic as the bus meanders through housing estates and tend to get a little stuffy.

Obviously, as with most things, we chose a really bad time to try out the public transport - it was pissing it down when we got out of the metro station. Not knowing where anything is (I could only see H&M and Sephora from the little metro exit), we just hung around the metro station for 30mins whilst waiting for the rain to subside. But I made a good choice hotel-wise; the hotel was about 50 meters away from the the metro exit, I just couldn’t see it from the exit! Woo! I was so bloody glad when we got to the hotel at last, I was dreading walking up and down Wenceslas Sq seeking for my hotel.

Paying 80EU per night including breakfast, Hotel Rokoko was an excellent bargin, right next to Marks & Spencers, opposite Debenhams & right in front of the famous Hotel Evorpa. Tram lines (Tram 3, 14, 24) and metro stops (Mustek,Museum) are all so painfully near - its absolutely great.

Happyness in the lift greets you daily…Plus service staff were actually smiling, which is extremely rare in this city that depends so much on tourism. Suprising, really, as they just tend to bang your tankards of beer down and do not smile at you when you smile at them. Yet they DARE demand for tips - one extremely rude waitress (at the Hotel Evropa bar) even took the trouble to highlight (yes, with a highlighter) on the check that service is NOT included. Bitch. Another one even came out with a calculator and showed us what 10% of our bill was.

Service is, also, extremely slow and frustrating. I know, I’m on holiday, I should relax, but it pisses me off when it takes them 15 mins to serve me my drinks - and it wasn’t like it was busy, they just popped out for a fag. Whilst in a restaurant, the couple next to us waited 30 mins for their expressos after their meal. Its extremely frustrating, more so when they always pull a face like as if you’ve stuck a stick up their arse and kept stirring it about.

We even got shouted at in a pastry shop when the woman kept stupidly serving us the wrong cake! Like as if its OUR fault if she is a dumbass crap. I believe she swore at us,but obviously no proof. And seriously, working in a touristy area, you would not expect everyone to speak your language anyway! In fact, all the patrons ordered in English. And if you keep chattering with someone behind you whilst we try pointing out the cake that we want, it is not OUR fault if you keep getting it wrong! AAAAARGH. By the end of the 4 days, I’ve had enough, and for all its old school charm and lovely buildings, Prague really needs to improve on its stick up the arse attitute

The service people were so rude, I did not buy anything on this trip to Prague! NOTHING at all! Look at all the sales sign beckoning me! Even the souvenier shop attendants crossed their arms whilst tailing us around the shop, and with that signature stick up the ass look. I did not even get a shotglass - after collecting shotglasses from so many countries, this is how BAD the customer service was.

Welceslas Square (Václavské náměstí)Originally a horse market, it got its present name in the mid-19th century. The Wenceslas Square is the main centre of modern Prague surrounded by shops, cinemas, office blocks, hotels, restaurants and cafés. The 750 m long and 60 m wide square has been the scene of a great deal of Czech history. In 1969 a university student Jan Palach burnt himself to death in protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion and in November 1989 protest meetings against police brutality were held here and led to the Velvet Revolution and the end of communism in Czechoslovakia. In the middle of the square is a monument of St Wenceslas on a horse accompanied with sculptures of four Czech patron saints.

Trivia: Did you know that the current and past Czech Prime Minister is called Wenceslas/ Václav ? So, if you want to be head of state for Czech, change your name!

In daylight with pretty flowers

National Museum (Národní muzeum)Founded in 1818 as a regional natural history museum, the architectural symbol of the Czech National Revival was completed in 1890 in a Neo-Renaissance style. It stands at the upper part of the Wenceslas Square and it is more than 70 m high. Its hall, façade, staircase and ramp are decorated with sculptures made by famous artists. Inside of the building are many historical paintings by František Ženíšek, Václav Brožík and Vojtěch Hynais. There are changing exhibitions as well as permanent collections devoted to archaeology, anthropology, mineralogy, natural history and numismatics.

Tomorrow: More of old town!

As I have not finished uploading pictures (only half way through day 1!) - here’s a quick sneak preview of some of the ‘better’ shots of prague.

The astronomical clock.

Wiki says:

The term is loosely used to refer to any clock that shows, in addition to the time of day, astronomical information. This could include the location of the sun and moon in the sky, the age and phase of the moon, the position of the sun on the ecliptic and the current zodiac sign, the sidereal time, and other astronomical data such as the moon’s nodes (for indicating eclipses) or a rotating star map.

Interestingly enough, it was on the inverted 69 sign, also known as cancer

The diving pig. Can you see Bacon waiting his turn? Hehehe..we did not know he was in the picture.

One of the many ‘painted buildings’ in Prague. They are actually carved into the walls

Intricate carvings at entrances reminds me of chinese temples

The famous Hotel Europa Art Deco hotel, right opposite where I stayed.

Lighted up by a dozen crystal chandeliers

Our imitation rococo hotel - complete with its bathtub half of a counter.

mils: so little pix i take
[09:05] mils: 300 only in total i think
[09:08] audrey: huh!
[09:08] audrey: aiyo
[09:10] mils: tsktsk
[09:14] audrey: yahlor
[09:14] audrey: what man!
[09:14] audrey: hahaha
[09:14] audrey: somemore maybe 15% will be faulty shots
[09:14] audrey: blurry and all
[09:14] audrey: so means only 225 shots u took!
[09:17] mils: yah!
[09:17] mils: is this like kiasu or what???
[09:17] mils: hahahahahahaha
[09:17] audrey: hahaha
[09:17] audrey: abit la

Due to the rainy conditions and bacon overworking my poor walking feet, I did not snap as much as I could’ve - well, try exposing your £600 camera to the rain and see how you feel. So most food pictures were taken with the good ol’ Nikon - by dinner time I was so tired I frankly CANNOT BE ARSED to carry a 1kg camera with me.

Because I’ve managed to only upload pictures from Nikon, today we shall talk about cows and pigs.

I can’t even pronounce the name, let alone memorize it, so this was where we ate dinner on the first night. Located near the Henry tower, just off the main drag of Wenceslas Square (main road of Praha’s New Town/tourist trap)

Looking through the menu, a good mixture of international/continental european cuisine with the more traditional Czech meaty food, something caught my eye immediately.

Not like as if it is much work put into it…

I had not had beef tartare since my days in Belgium - in 2000! For the uninitiated, yes, it is exactly what it looks like - raw minced beef with a raw egg and spices on the side. Although I must mention that I did not exactly realized it was going to be presented this way - the last time I had beef tartare it was already all mixed up and looked more like a tuna salad. This, you can even make out the face of the cow. Oops.

It comes with rock-hard toasts, and you mix everything up on the plate (your choice of spices) and spread it just like pate. But unlike pate, this meat is extremely fresh (you would die otherwise) and there is no lingering liver smell. It is suprisingly flavourless - the flavour is from the spices and it is not very strong indeed. All in all, it looks like meat spread. But I had to have it just this once - its been so long.

My order was funnily enough greeted by amused stares mixed in with horrified faces when other patrons in the restaurants realized what I had ordered.

Guess what did bacon have? No, not foil.

Roast smoked pork knuckle - a czech specialty (sorry for the blurred pictures,low light conditions)

Bacon wouldn’t let me take a proper nice picture of his pork knuckle as he was hungry.

It was the best pork I’ve had in ages. Gently smoked, it was then roasted on spit bone-on when ordered. Measuring more than 1.1kg (it even said so on the menu!) it was an absolutely gobsmacking yummy way of making pork more delicious than ever. And really, it WAS a meal for two, but I just have to have raw meat,stupidly enough. This dish came with bits of cucumber and tomato, with horseradish & mustard. And strangely enough, a slice of kiwi.Oh, and two quarters of a sweet gherkin. All very german.

I was unable to finish my beef tartare as I kept picking the meat off bacon’s pig. But I was happy to announce that I am still well and happy after eating raw meat with raw egg - halfway through I began to doubt my sanity of eating raw meat on holiday in this age of foot and mouth disease.

But seeing the word ‘Marlenka’ on the dessert menu just changed my mind. Before leaving for Prague, I found this excellent blog on restaurants,foods, and all things edible in and around Prague.

What is essentially a layer cake made with honey;it is served with a dollop of cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. The top is sprinkled with what I can only ascertain as chopped nuts. Blissfully heavenly - ableit a little dry.

All that’s left..

All in all, a great meal to start the trip, admist all the rain and thunder. The total bill (with two beers) came up to be 489CK = £12 for two. Bloody bargin.

sorry for the lack of posts - off to the city of castles and cathedrals.

Be back on monday with hopefully loads of pixs to share!

have a good weekend all.