Dobry Den! Ahoy!
(Greetings in Czech - the first being formal while the second being informal)

Just some update of my travel so far. It’s been a great journey so far. On weekends my uncle will bring me around Czech Republic while on weekdays I travel alone, taking buses to towns and cities and going for a day trip.

The weather at this point in time is perfect! It’s not too hot nor is it too cold.

Here’s what I’ve been doing for the past week.

Thursday, 9 Sept - Arrival at Brno
Friday, 10 Sept - Mini tour around Brno town with uncle
Saturday, 11 Sept -  Fresh wine (Burcak) festival at Znojmo (j is pronounced as y so it’s snoy-mo)
Sunday, 12 Sept - Cave tour - Moravian Karst
Monday, 13 Sept -  Self tour around Brno
Tueday, 14 Sept - Bratislava, Slovakia
Wednesday, 15 Sept - Vienna, Austria
Thursday, 16 Sept - Olomouc, Czech Rep

Commuting between places is really simple. I simply buy inter-city bus tickets from the Student Agency bus company and I’m travelling already!

Public transportation is simply amazing. Singapore is years behind if I were to compare. And there are a lot of trust involved in the system. There is no one to check the ticket upon entering buses and trams here (and trains in Vienna too). Most people simply buy their ticket and use the system. And the buses and trams are accurate to the minute. This is so unlike Singapore’s buses, not to mention Malaysia’s.

The difficult part here is probably only the language barrier. Most people do not speak English here. Maybe it’s different for Prague. There are quite some English speakers in Bratislava and Vienna so I guess it’s just a non-capital city problem. Well, but I suppose the Czech language ain’t that hard to learn. Just have to memorise words after words. It’s like Malay I would say. After you build up a vocab you more or less can communicate with the people here. I’m slowly recognising words so I can know what I’m ordering at the restaurants.

Besides, Czech Rep doesn’t use the Euro currency yet but uses the Koruna. So things are still pretty much affordable here. I would say it’s like paying high-end food price for low-end food. A plain hamburger would cost me 30 Crown which is about RM6 so I guess I can still stomach it. High-end food like steak would be about 20% higher than prices in Malaysian restaurants. So can still enjoy life here. However things are much more expensive if it’s in Euro like in Vienna. A kebab there costs me 3 Euro which is about RM15. Gulp! It’s just the friggin Ringgit which is wayyyy undervalued by the government to keep the economy competitive. Check out The Economist Big Mac index to have an idea of what I’m saying.

But wth bout all these currencies. I need to eat. So SPEND! hahaha

Anyway, I am loving the ISIC (Internation Student Identity Card) that I applied for in Malaysia. I paid RM20 for it at MSL Travel (just google them) and I would say I’ve gotten savings wayyy in excess of the RM20 I paid for it. For example, I get 15% off for bus fares on Student Agency buses. I also get almost half price for entry into museums, galleries, palaces etc. The ISIC card is just plain recognisable everywhere in Europe. Get it in Malaysia before you leave for UK. You gonna pay in Pounds (and it’s probably 5 times more expensive!) to get the card if you don’t get it in Malaysia.

Well, the weekend is coming soon. Uncle is bringing me out again. Not sure where this time but I suppose it’s to Prague. All I can say is the tour so far is great! Vienna is simply amazing. I need to go back there again. And apparently my uncle said Budapest is even better. I’m going back London on Monday. Another few more days of touring around before uni starts.

Oh and for pictures? Haha. It’s on my Facebook!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 6:20 am and is filed under Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.