Czech Republic ... quickly, before the charms are lost ...

Czech Republic (21-25 June)

From my impression, Prague had always been one of the most intriguing locations in Europe. Heard a lot about this lovely city when it first opened its arms to tourism, and people were all commenting about how great this city was. Of course, I was there more than ten years after hearing and reading about all that...

The astronomical clock & the old town square... how often does the square get "vandalized"? EuroCup 2008 coincided with our visit, and the square was set up for people to watch the matches together. We had the chance to watch the quarterfinal matches there.

The views of the city from elevation can be breath-taking. The view of Prague castle looks as magical in daylight (above) as well as at night (below). I particularly liked the view along the river at night.

Felice had the greatest idea ... to go to a play/opera/ballet at one of the nice places in Prague. And that we did. We did not care what we were watching, since there were probably not many shows that we could understand, being in Czech Republic and all. The venue was most important. And we wanted to dress up. Hee hee... Even though it was bloody hot that day, we were wearing things that made us (mostly me) regret eventually.

The Opera House was small, but looked very nice on the inside. The ballet was Cinderella, so it was (1) very easy to understand, and (2) was a very family-oriented program. People were dressed well too, so we weren't too out of place. As it was summer, while the ballet started around six and ended before eight, the streets were very warm even when we left... ooo... I definitely cannot survive in that kinda condition for long.


Cesky Krumlov

Heard good things about this UNESCO Heritage Site, and decided to spend a day there. While it was pretty and all, it was a place which would be better experienced by spending a night there, and doing activities like trekking or kayaking. Somehow, I can imagine living in a place like this. :)

世纪婚礼 - Jun 27-29, 2008

It has been more than a month since the vacation in Europe, and I had not managed to allocate any time for presenting and sharing the photos and stories from the trip with the wedding of the century…

Now that I am in Taiwan, where I can get more than 6 hours of sleep everyday, it is time to do some “work”. Don't expect too much for my photo editing skills (or even photo-takings skills for that matter), since I only have Microsoft Photo Editor at my disposal here.

1st up, the wedding of the century. Now, this was a one-of-a-kind wedding. The groom wanted a medieval themed wedding and invited people from all over the world to take part. It was incredible...

the wedding march, from the hotel to the cathedral ... traffic stopping

after the cathedral proceedings, exiting with style!

proclamation from the bride and groom

Now, how many weddings have you been to where they have fireworks, or pyrotechnics, or firing cannons? How about a castle setting, with a massive yard dinner on well decorated tables and archaic cutlery? And people all dressed up, in various costumes, from young kids to the older folks? And probably not many weddings would be accompanied with live poultry, goat, pigs and cow... ha ha ...

And for those wondering, this type of wedding is not common in Switzerland.

dumb city guy

wouldn't usually call myself dumb...

arrived at this remote site in Taiwan by late afternoon, and instead of scouting around for food options, i lazed about in the room until 7+... and then found that everything nearby was closed. on asking the receptionist, there was supposedly a 7-11 "nearby". About 20 minutes or more by walking.

and so, the idiot in me decided to jog there. and being the 路痴 that i am, i did not clarify the directions and ran ahead. and so off i went, into the night, hunting for somewhere to buy dinner.

the roads were not well lit (1). seriously, Singapore is like a glowing indoor city with the lightings we have. here in Taiwan, the street lamps were far between, and there wasn't any pedestrian tracks (2). so i ran in darkness, along the light traffic (3), without any idea if the direction i was heading was right (4). running along, i heard dogs barking away, which was fine, until there was this one barking that did not seem to become distant with my jogging pace... was the dog chasing me? what if the owners of the dogs did not chain them down (5)? and so i ran faster...

giving up when i did 40+ minutes, i decided to make a U-turn. let's make it back when i am still in one-piece. so with the 5 main reasons above, i conclude that i am pretty dumb today! i should have (i) gone looking for food when i first arrive, (ii) take a cab to look for food instead, and (iii) leave the jogging for day-time when there is light.

... by the way, i did not get my dinner. oh, just as well... i am getting fat anyway. better be dumb but look good than otherwise, i guess.

Team Singapore, Short-sighted driving & Lazy weekend

before i begin to put in the long-delayed photos of the Europe holiday and wedding, i must relate my experience of this lovely weekend.

work had been busy and crazy, sucking so much energy from me that i was almost like a zombie by friday. so i was not in the mood to plan too much for the weekend. volunteered to drive the Bride (not in Kill Bill) to the airport for her morning flight on Saturday... early Sat morning. And at the airport, we met Team Singapore, departing for Beijing (same flight as her). There was a large following, of people cheering them at various stages. And my cynical self surfaced.

there was this recent discussion on the support that Singaporeans give to our athletes, that when they come back defeated, there is seldom a well-deserved welcome. some people blamed it on the lack of publicity on their return time, while others were apathetic about the sports team. on this saturday morning, the noise level from the crowd was nice to have, but then when i saw the make-up of the crowd.

See if you could tell what i meant from the photos above...


Short-sighted driving
I was curious today, while driving in the evening. The evening sun was glaring and as i had not put on my contacts, the sun-glasses were not suitable for use... or were they? Being playful, i took off my glasses and went with the sun-glasses with a -3.50 short-sighted vision. It was actually quite okay! Surprise surprise... i was not as blind as i thought i was. of course i couldn't really see the lanes, nor the cars with my side mirrors (gasp!) but it was safe enough with the kinda speed i was going at. However, I should not dare to try this with my pathetic night vision.


Lazy weekend
Did nothing much this weekend. Less than 2 hrs of jogging in total, about 500 m of swimming, about 2 hours of playing with the kids (before i knocked off), and now, shopping, eating and "working" at Raffles City. It was kinda nice to not have any expectations and just BE.