weekend in Changzhou (again?)

i'm back in Changzhou again!

so much to do recently, that i feel so drained everyday. and finally had a puking session after getting too much to drink lats tuesday. that did not feel good. (duh...) it was after 3 glasses of 白酒 and a glass of beer. and i did manage to puke only when i returned to the room. however, my aim wasn't great, and the drainage of the bathroom sucks... btw, this happened in Heze and not Changzhou.

with the current toxic milk scandal, I wonder how much melamine I had already ingested from my first visit till now. but i really like milk and diary products... and how about the milk in coffee? oh good grief... anyhow, i still had my cereals with milk this morning. the waitress was pretty funny, when i asked her candidly if the milk they served (this is the Traders Hotel) was safe, and she smiled sheepishly, saying "最好还是不要喝".

well, i really should get some work done, before going to town for dinner later. should really do things to bring my spirits up, instead of mopping around in the hotel.

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.