My Prague Journey I

On 24th of April, at 8pm, my brother fetched dad, mum and me to KLIA. We had four wheeled upright luggage and three handbags. It was not my first time to travel by plane, I had been to Sarawak and Langkawi by plane. But they were considered short journey. The most was 2 hours plus. This time round, I had to be on plane for 11 hours to Amsterdam. There's no direct flight to Prague. Have to transit by KLM (Dutch Airline). From Amsterdam to Prague we need to fly 1 hour 50 minutes. Cool, this is the real flight experience, approximately 13 hours in the air.

Gradually I realised that it was not as cool as I thought. I was quite excited and hoping to reach as fast as possible. So I didnt have any proper sleep. There is not much space between the seats. I felt uncomfortable sitting there. Whenever I started falling asleep, stewardess came and served us food and beverage. Firstly, a pack of smoked almond and a cup of juice. Secondly, supper with fried rice, biscuits, cheese and dessert. I brought a small clock that showed M'sia time with me on plane. At 4.30am, yeah, I'm sure this was the exact time, stewardess asked me whether I want a cup of ice-cream or instant noodles. Well, I got awaken by her then I had got no choice but to try the ice-cream. It was Walls brand, nothing special. We just had the supper not too long ago, I was full until I found it difficult to sleep but still there were some other passengers could have the instant noodles. Alright, finally then I managed to sleep a bit and it was 2 hours left to reach our destination. We were served breakfast. I chose sausage and egg, it tasted good.

Finally, we reached Amsterdam airport. It was so early, 6am local time and not many people walking around. This aiport is huge, probably bigger than KLIA.

We had one hour to walk around and shop. There are variety of shops. Many sports shirts can be found, especially Holland international football jersey.

Different souvenir is sold here. Dolls wearing Holland traditional costume. So cute and charming.

Wooden shoes are very famous in Holland. They can be seen almost every shops. The pattern and design are unique.

People started lining up to go through the immigration. As for us, we transit, so we would need to go another gate for boarding, not here.

Can't stop myself to take photo with lots of wooden shoes. I bought a pair of wooden shoes key chain here on last day before I returned to M'sia.

The most important to shop at airport is look for chocolate. Droste chocolate is made in Holland and in fine quality. We bought some and tried them. It was superb and delicious. Picture above is Droste cocoa.

Traditional Dutch syrup waffles. A few months ago, my cousin sister came to Europe on working purpose and she was here to wait for transit as well. She bought many boxes of this syrup waffles. My parents tasted it already. I only tried it here. To be frank, I dont actually like it, it is a bit too sweet.


Cheese cheese cheese. They looked 'fat mou' already right. But I guess they taste good. I love cheese.

Yeah, this is the plane that we would be going to Prague. I was getting nervous and nervous.

Took a photo for memory. Inside the plane is mostly green, very special. Sandwiches were served for passengers. I was still full so I didnt try. My parents said it was nice. This flight is not full. There were still a lot of empty seats. I saw a M'sian couple boarding here as well.

It's transavia.com, another Netherlands based airline, mostly travel between European countries. Yea, this is the type that we would fly to Prague.

The whole journey, I saw a lot of these square square light green thingy. Probably planting. But what kind of plant is it? I was so curious.

At last, I reached Prague airport!! It was so quiet there especially at the arrival hall. But the picture above is departure hall, so it was slightly busier.

Well, the big sign tells you, 'yeah, I'm in Prague!!'

For memory as well.

Uncle arrived and helped us to carry those luggage. So glad to see him. Picture above is my parents and uncle (can just see his head). The blue car is rented and it's more convenient for uncle to go working. He has the international driving license.

You must be wondering why the driver's seat is on the left. Yeah, in most of the European countries except UK, it's left hand side driving. The driving lane is opposite of our M'sian way. So my uncle is so suffering to get used to it. As a foreigner, how can he manage to know the direction? The key is GPS navigator!! You can see it from the picture. Having it with us, it's so convenient. You only have to know what's the street name and its number, then GPS will bring you there. I've heard many countries got GPS, so as M'sia, but it's not well known, I guess the reason is M'sia road construction is every where. My living area is a good example. I dont know how many years it needs to finish the construction.


25th April 2007. 9.16am. 15 Celsius. Once I went outside Prague airport, I breathe and found that the smell of the air is not the same as KL. And obviously it was more windy. I always had jacket with me. Finally I stepped on a four seasons country. Hmm, 25th April, what a special day, haha. My 19th birthday was so unique because it was more than 24 hours!! Well, my flight is at 11pm, 24th. At 12am, it was 25th, plane started flying. After 13 hours, it should have been afternoon. But because of timezone matter, when we reached it was just 9am on 25th, so I've got the longest birthday ever, hehe.


After we left our luggage at uncle's apartment, we couldn't wait for going out. Uncle went back to office to continue working. We would go walking by ourselves. Daddy bought tram tickets at trafika shop which is nearby. Actually the ticket can be used not only for tram but also bus and metro (subway). Prague's transportation system is one of the best in Europe according to some useful websites. It's so true. Daddy figured out how the tram line is and which tram we took. Then we began our excited journey.

Stomache was 'playing drum'. Gotto find a food place. Hmm, dont know what to eat. Uncle recommended KFC before as the menu is mostly different from M'sia's.


This is mashed potato with chicken pieces and corn. Very tasty. We had some chicken burgers and french fries. The potato in Prague is great. Fresher and more delicious.

Once finished having lunch, we explored the city. I walked past this stunning building. Prague's architecture is very famous. The first time I saw it in real, it's National Theater. This theater is very big and I couldnt fully capture it. I was stunned there for a few minutes and amazed how the sculpture are carved. The beauty of Prague is gradually revealed.


Another impressive sculpture. I'm not sure the name of it though.



This is real. I'm not dreaming man. The famous Charles Bridge. I was a bit overjoyed by that time.


The Vtlava River side. The Vtlava River has not always been as calm as it seems now. It had many times been flooded and destroyed.



Crystal is one of the Czech native products. Shining crystal is a lure for ladies. Mummy bought a pair of crystal earrings.


The charming Old Town Bridge Tower behind me. Going to walk across Charles Bridge.


Statue of Charles IV. He's the one who rebuilt Charles Bridge after it had been destroyed by flood. From a wooden bridge, it was changed to a firm stone bridge.

Standing on the more than 600 years Charles Bridge. The bridge is decorated with 30 statues in Baroque style. The original statues are now kept in the National Musuem, whereas the statues on the Charles Bridge are replicas.

The statues of St. Norbert, St. Wenceslas and St. Sigismund (from left to right).

When you have come across Charles Bridge, it's a must to have a look on the statue of St. John of Nepomuk. He was a national saint of Bohemia but been murdered and thrown into Vtlava River. There's a myth saying that seven stars were seen over the very spot where he was drowned. But I only saw five stars above him, hmmm. By the way, a lot of foreigners queuing up in front of this statue. Why?

Ohh, cause it's said that touching the statue of St. John of Nepomuk will make one's wish come true. Daddy said the statue was warm as countless people had touched it. May your wish come true, daddy, hehe.

Okay, we proceed to the next place then. On the way, I saw this couple having three wolfdogs with them. I was so amazed to see wolfdogs in real. It's only on tv I've seen them before. Nice and smooth fur. Had a feeling to touch them, keke.

Walking up stairs to visit Prague Castle.

Hey, this can fight with my National Service camp's stairs man. So tiring.

Finally we were up there. Nice overall view of Prague. Could see most of the famous buildings.

We reached the gate of one of the largest fortresses in the world - the Castle of Prague. The gate is actually leading to the Grand Courtyard.

Whenever I go to Cheras, I'll pass by our Agong's istana. Most of the time the entrance is crowded by foreigners. And the guard is the most famous person as he's been taken millions of photo. Then I must be whispering 'aih, nothing special also, why are there so many people?' But now I found myself taking photo with a Czech guard whom I thought is quite smart and handsome. So contradicting. Well, we will never appreciate what we have and admire what others have, am I right?

This is the second entrance to Prague Castle. Everyday different citizens from variety of countries come here to appreciate the essence of this city.

Including this primary students tour. I'm not sure they are from Czech or other countries. So good to be together with classmates and teachers and not just read history but to see, feel and walk it. So 'syiok'!! They were walking past the Chapel of the Holy Road.

Fountain in the second courtyard.

I'm not sure its name. It looks like a big 'burung sangkar' (cage) though.

Wow, the elegant St. Vitus's Cathdral with splendid rose window appears in front of me. When I saw this, I was speechless. I couldnt tell how superb the neo-Gothic facade is. I wasnt able to take a full photo of it, it's too enormous for us.

Elaborate scene from the entrance portal.

I was standing in front of Alfons Mucha's stained-glass window.

I have never been to a church as I'm a buddhist. It's so stunning to see all those architecture. Somemore it's not just built a few years ago but hundreds years ago. Picture above is a scene of the interior.

Another one of the many stained-glass windows.

Background is the whole building of St. Vitus's Cathedral.

We had actually walked around a part of the Prague Castle area only. Then it was getting dark and we thought we had finished exploring. Well, the other area we would go on last day of our trip. I'll share with you later. Okay, it's dinner time. After working, uncle came to fetch us. Daddy said that we wanna try Czech food. So we came to Wencelas Square and had dinner at a Czech restaurant.

Uncle ordered pork knee. A whole pork knee was served. I took the photo but it was blur so I didnt upload it. I tried the traditional Czech meal, a few slices of pork and carrot pan cake. Well, all food was actually very salty. We didnt get used to eating them.

This is the traditional Czech dumplings - knedliky. Hmm, taste okay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dobry den!! (Hello/Good day in Czech)

Thanks a lot for reading the first part. I've spent a lot of time typing and arranging this. Hope that you'll drop a comment for me =)

...to be continued...