Japanamac

Day 2: Czech Republic

13 May 2006 | Comments Off

We arrived in Europe very early in the morning. After clearing customs, we were ushered into the hotel restaurant for a buffet styled breakfast. We weren’t very hungry because the people on China Airlines fed us like 20 times before our arrival, but the buffet looked so delicious. So much for our diets!

After eating we boarded our main tour bus for the trip and met the driver. He was a super tall fellow and could speak perfect English. At first, he thought I was a tour guide because I was speaking Japanese, but then he realized I was part of the group. He seemed to be pleasantly surprised. Since there were only 15 people in the tour group, there was tons of space on the bus to sprawl out. Azusa and I quickly claimed the entire back of the bus so that we could sleep comfortably across the large section of seats. And sleep, we did.

When we woke up we had already arrived at our first destination in Europe ÄŒeský Krumlov. Made up of 300 buildings, ÄŒeský Krumlov is one of the Czech Republic’s oldest and most beautiful towns and the entire area has been deemed a national treasure by UNESCO. Most of the city received a Baroque style makeover at the end of the 17th century, but the Italian Renaissance also influenced the town and it’s castle. The buildings give the town a very unique feeling. It was almost like we were transported back in time! Anyways, we only got to spend about two hours in ÄŒeský Krumlov before boarding the bus for Prague. It’s too bad that we didn’t have more time because Azusa and I wanted to try out some of the cafes that lined the streets. There’s always next time, I guess!

This is the view of Český Krumlov from the castle.

We arrived in Prague in the evening, checked into our hotel and then it was straight to dinner. The restaurant we went to was quite charming. They had a polka band cranking out the tunes and riling up the patrons. It was pretty wild. You can check out a video by clicking here. We ate some sauerkraut, some spongy potatoes and steak. It was all pretty tasty. By the time we had finished eating, it was pretty late. Sightseeing in Prague would have to wait until tomorrow.

Next stop: Prague

Day 1.5: Abu Dhabi

12 May 2006 | Comments Off

During the long flight from Taipei I watched the movie Syriana. It’s a movie about the oil business and politics in the Middle East. It probably wasn’t such a good idea as it got me pretty worried about stopping in The United Arabs Emirates. I mean… Isn’t that in the Middle East too??? To be fair though, Abu Dhabi is one of the richest cities in the world and their airport is well… Luxurious. We were only there for two hours, but that was enough time to buy some imported American magazines and shop in the duty free store for a while before departing for Europe.

Shortly after taking off from Abu Dhabi, I took this picture. It’s the navigation display from my personal seatback monitor. Talk about flying between a rock and a hard place!

Next Stop: Czech Republic

Day 1: Taiwan

11 May 2006 | Comments Off

Before we get into the first day of our trip I should mention that our tour package was surprisingly inexpensive considering that Golden Week is one of the busiest travel seasons in Japan. I attributed some of that to the fact that we would be flying on China Airlines with two layovers. “Oh, boy!” I thought. “China Airlines?” To be honest though, for every negative thought I had came a resounding positive truth. China Airlines rocks!

China Airline’s food was delicious, the service was top-notch and the airplane was exceptionally clean and new. But the best thing about China Airlines was perhaps their seating. I found my seat to be very spacious and comfortable and I used the rolling foot massager on my leg rest more than once. Nice, indeed… Not only that, but there is a personal monitor and control unit on every seatback. Even in economy class!!! The monitor gives you access to free movies, music, flight information and TV programs. On the flight Azusa and I were able to watch movies like King Kong, Jarhead, Syriana and Memoirs of a Geisha. It was very impressive.

Well, okay… Enough about China Airlines awesomeness. On to Taiwan, the first stop on our long flight to Europe. We arrived in Taiwan in the afternoon and the first thing we noticed was that it was much more humid than Japan. I think I was sweating just waiting to get through immigration and I wasn’t even carrying any luggage!

Once our tour group of about 15 people passed through customs, we headed to our chartered bus for an afternoon tour of Taipei, the capitol of Taiwan. The day started out with some very elaborate shrines. It was kinda cool because the shrines had waterfalls even though they were located on busy city streets between tall buildings.

Looks nice, but there were sky-scrapers on both sides.

Next, we went to the center of the city where we walked around a memorial to the founding fathers of Taiwan. IT hink it was called the Chang Kai-Shek memorial. It was a little boring, so Azusa and I snuck off to a convenience store where we bought some drinks and some steamed dumplings The dumplings was soooo delicious that we bought two more and then returned to our group. From there we boarded our bus and passed by Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building. Azusa and I really wanted to go in, but we didn’t have time. Instead, it was off to an early dinner and then the airport. We had a flight to catch. A flight to…

Next stop: Abu Dhabi

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