* Tina's adventures in Prague or rather misadventures

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Naked men,hunks-on-ice, rendez-vous..photos galore
though it's not what you did imagine

Haven't blogged in ages --since i found that elise changed the password for her computer..maybe i did overstep my boundaries a li' by blogging about her with her own comp hah so i decided to lay off her lappie for a while.. i've almost grown accustomed to living without a laptop if i could just overlook the bother of not bring able to do research for projects or write essays without having to make the 30mins trek to school..oh well

Elise and i made a pact that we should do something every weekend that we weren't travelling-- this came after several exchange students started proclaiming that we were missin' out-- having skipped our share of nation2nation parties-which invloves dancing & getting wasted, the trip to morovia- which involved sightseeing&getting wasted, the boat parties-which involved being on a boat&getting wasted.. you get the drift(oh n if you like tt kind of stuff i promptly suggest you find gerlad's blog!) ..though we knew we had conciously given these events a pass..we realised we had better start checking stuff off the ol' To-do-list..

For the first sunday we went to an ICE hockey match: to watch 14 or so burly, young men with sticks chase after a lil' black pug barely 5 inches wide..but the men were cute..so no one's complaining

The line-up before the match!

Tustle for the pug

Denise and me(for siling)

No, the players haven't shrunk..

these are peewee hockey cuties showing off

to the crowd during half time..

sliding on their bellies across the ice

hot cheerleaders at a very cold stadium..

they did a cheer every 5 mins or so throughout a 2 hr game

For the next sunday, we headed to a spa&sauna for some R&R..elise for for a massage and a sauna for me, but the masseurs were booked for the day and elise joined me for a sauna session instead-- just as well because it was freezing outside that day.. we decided to take the public sauna because it was like 3 times cheaper...and it started off well, perfectly though before the attendent left us at the sauna she did mention that it was a co-ed sauna.. which we figured was fine because we were provided with sheet&towels but lo' & behold we soon found that the only people that used the public sauna were men--- NAKED OLD men! who haven't seem to grasp the concept-- apparent since the time of adam&eve-- that a little fig leaf goes a long way..i immediately started to place my book in strategic positions so that i could be blind to the sight for sore eyes but poor elise armed with only her ipodshuffle well, took the grunt of it all..and it gets worse: An old swedish guy seated across elise started to make smalltalk with us, about singapore--the whole country's a sauna!--prague, etc. I was fine, with my book placed at just the right spot...but elise,poor elise had to look directly at him n his dick while we chatted uncomfortably for five minutes--she later filled me in about the man adjusting himself there all the while he was talking to us.. also we had to politely refuse his invitations to join him in the dipping pool (elise didn't have her swinsuit, though that wasn't exactly a concern for him)..

needless to say, it was an interesting experience- one that we are unlikely to forget.. we may even go again next week --though we are still pondering over the value of a private sauna room-- i mean we probably seen all there is to see..

The third weekend: On saturaday, i got an invitation from my buddy to watch a modern ballet called rendezvous-- two of her friends were performing and we got to watch it for free! i didn't understand what was going on half the time but the costumes were pretty and i got to strike one more thing off the list. On sunday, elise and I visited charming Karlovy Vary-a popular tourist destination, especially for international celebrities visiting for spa treatments...historically famous for its hot springs (13 main springs, about 300 smaller springs) and with it's candied colored buildings--was a refreshing break from the city..

picturesque,delightful,charming: Karlovy vary!

Hermes in town? though in no relation to the famous producer of the birkin bag

One of the 13 springs: each spring has a plaque indicating it's temperature & mineral properties

house of springs: sampling is freee

Elise at lookout pt: very "titantic-ish" don't you think? On the bus to KV: the way this guy slept just brought a smile on our faces

This coming weekend: Graz(austria) & maribor (slovenia)!

not quite the happy gelato stained postcard.
--2:44 AM--

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Off the beaten Prague...
Sightseeing in Prague can be done in about a day so it's highly recommended to take day trips to two nearby towns.. the first was mining town Kutna Hora famous for it's Bone Chapel, Kostnice and the St. Barbara's cathedral, St. Barbara being the patron saint for miners..

Presenting the bone chapel..bwahahah

Freaky huh? Bone Chandelier for grandureBone crest- to showcase their creativity

Too many bones, they ran out of stuff to do

and it's really a chapel..see

The road to the more orthodox st. barbara's cathedral

the gothic cathedral the interior is really stunning but no photos allowed..

The second town holds Karlstejn castle which looks like something out of a story book.. prettier from the outside than it is on the inside though.. and the town basically centers around the castle so it's a 30 mins hike up and back down on the train to Prague...

view from the castle: it's known as the impenetrable castle and judging by the view from the castle.. u can guess why.. so freaking high and surrounded by forests that stretch further than the eye can see

not quite the happy gelato stained postcard.
--4:17 AM--

Roomie rants
This morning i got this sms from Elise :"if you use my comp, please dun dl stuff with virus" which i found to be quite insulting....yes, my laptop is in the shop and yes, because it's there because i tried to remove (not install) popcorn.net but still(!) to remind me that i shouldn't dl stuff with virus... W.T.F! i mean who purposefully dl stuff with virus?..she might as well send me an sms telling me:"if you use the stove, please dun burn the room down"..help! i need my msn for a much more private form of bitchin' before i go insane and flung her off charles bridge...little things about her drive me crazy-& not in a good way-

Top pet peeves:
in the first week-it was her asking me if she was color-coordinated-admist a barage of other meaningless/idiotic questions like is london cold now? where can she buy this? should she do that? y is the door stuck? y is the computer slow? the lastest one-only this morning-being y was the door unlocked?--she was the last to enter the previous night and she's asking me?
Later it was her reminding me to put my cultery together at the side of the plate when i'm finished with my meal..thanks MOM
and lastly, other than her talking down to me most of the time (with the i-know-better-than-you-tone), is the fact that she's not really aware of how she's affecting other people.. like she leaves the comp sound effects on at night( so i listen to the pings on her msn b4 i fall asleep), her phone alarm on snooze (means that it rings like 3 times before she gets up- i get up on the first ring-naturally) the mainlight on for her night reading (i can sleep with the light on but yest her friend came to stayover and couldn't sleep cos she was directly under the mainlight)

She not all bad of course.. like she lets me use her laptop and read her cosmos and glamour (but not before reminding me that she likes her magazines "new") and she's great at dancing, meeting people and socializing...which saves me from doing so...and i bet i'm probably driving her crazy too. she dropped a lot of hints about wanting to be alone on monday- it's fine with me.. i'm anything but clingy

Anyways apart from the infamous sms i received, today was a great day, i went to the mall-alone- spent hours in the bookstore trying the find the best books-bought a new top from zara.. found english magazines at Tesco (expensive though-may just browse instead) and picked up a fresh batch of groceries to try my hand at cooking again!-gosh i hope the novelty doesn't wear off-then it'll be back to chinese takeout

Sidenote:
Being asian in prague means that everything you are/like/use is exotic.. singapore's exotic, thai chilli sause is exotic, chinese stirfry is exotic.. and if u're pretty like elise & you're in a club holding a beer, u're exotic and people will take pictures of u and tell you that they like asian girls... your accent is exotic..you get the drift..sometimes even i find myself staring at other asians cos' well they're exotic!!

not quite the happy gelato stained postcard.
--12:52 AM--

Saturday, October 07, 2006

The Daily Show- Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black Like Me

I love the daily show!!!

not quite the happy gelato stained postcard.
--5:13 AM--

Finally.. scenes from prague

Finally, today blogger is working with me... Pictures are up!

Finally, today was also the day i found the BIG Mango and Zara in the city center...the Mango was soo big and overwhelming i momentarily forgot how to shop!-- this comes from a seasoned mango shopper able to nagivate the five mangos in orchard road blindfolded.. it took me about an hour or so to get my barrings--god i wonder what it was going to be like during the mango sale..well i know where i'll be every weekend...

Anyhows your long awaited scences from prague

Prague castle gates

changing of the guards: though not as glam as london---

the guards are way cuter

main town square: the original disney castle

the town's astronomical clock

The famous Vltava river with the national theater in the background

For some artsy fartsy ones:

charles bridge at sunset the city at night romance in Prague

stupid quote of the day: if mila loves mango.. tina loves pineapple..it's great for eating n cooking yum!

not quite the happy gelato stained postcard.
--3:17 AM--

Friday, October 06, 2006

A day of firsts....

No.. my laptop's not fixed yet because i haven't gotten an english version of windows to install..but Elise (my roomie) has kindly lent me her computer to blog! It's really ironic that losing my laptop increases my urge to blog (bored mah)...but anyhows today-with a good 5 hours to kill without my lappie- was a day of firsts!! i cooked for the first time and then again for dinner cos' it's so much fun to see what u imagine materialise before you (clean up's a bitch though) and i vaccumed the room for the first time (initially planned to have a cleaning day with Elise but i think that day would never come-it still wouldn't have if my lappie wasn't in a coma) and well that's about it plus laundry..but it's really big for me cos' i had never ever done this back at home..the scary realisation bout' today is that i enjoyed doing the chores- even more so than a night of clubbing (god i'm sooo un-cool- i know)--but don't tell my roomie that..haha

Meanwhile, Autumn arrived yesterday..hooray seasons! more specifically hooray for dressing up for different seasons--scarfs n boots out!!!

Autumn is: cold like the LTs at ACjc, strong icy winds blowing at u in every direction with a drizzle of rain every few hours.. just to make sure u get really chilly!
Thinning trees donned in gold, red and brown..rose gardens in full bloom..crowded trams (cos' it's not fun to walk anymore)..freezing fingers and toes... long lines for the instant hot coffee machine

enuff' said.. now pictures:

breakfast is served! french toast with tomatoes and sausages

For dinner: mid-west chinese fusion..maincourse: corn, mashed potatoes and sweet and sour porkchop with pineapples, sides: black pepper baked beans and eggs, ice lemon tea & rice

Side story about dinner: Elise insisted on having instant noodles for dinner and bought this great looking instant breaded porkchop to go along with it even though i said i was cooking and could cook for both of us..i realised that this meant tt i had to wait my turn to use my own pot and pan....sharing was fine i thought--as long as it was at different times haha- in the end i took my time in preping the food and let elise go first..after all it was only instant nooodles, all part of living with someone..i think she was a bit sore that she didn't join me for dinner though cos the instant porkchop kinda sucked.. in other news.. Mrs Lee pre packed sweet and sour sauce looks suspiciously like keptchup and vingear- total rip off(!) but still good!

not quite the happy gelato stained postcard.
--5:09 AM--