An affair: Dobry-Den Czech

"Part of the reasons that this journey

is going to be remembered,
is the learning,
and the growing up"

-- 9 August, 2008,
Prague time: 0811 hrs; M'sia time: 1411 hrs
Metro 'C' train from Nadrazi Holesovice to I.P. Pavlova

Believe it or not, there's a vision that differentiates a city from another by colors.

From Austria to Czech Republic, the colors changed. Austria is glory white and refreshing green, came to Prague of Czech Republic, my vision changed to brownish maroon and dark yellow

-- those earthy range of colors define a Prague in me: A gypsy.

I think I'm lucky to have this special type of vision. And I think I am lucky in Czech as yellow is always my lucky color.

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I used to compare Czech Republic to Austria once I stepped into Prague, and she got me disappointed. But when night fell and four of us were strolling on the ever famous Charles Bridge or Karluv Most, I felt the pulse of Prague beating mine.

...and then I realized that I was wrong about Czech.

Czech's charm is totally different from Austria's elegance. Czech is a free-spirited gypsy, spontaneous, wild, daring, passionate and always happy -- you need to get close to her and get involve into her life to feel her charm ...

...and I think I was lucky to perceive that at the very first night I was in Prague, before letting the tiredness and exhaustion of our trip overwhelmed my sense towards a journey of inner-self discovery..

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Do you really have a feeling of being 'lucky'? I did, and I did not, on Charles Bridge.

From Charles Bridge Museum I obtained the legendary and mythical story about St John of Nepomuk who was thrown into Vlata River by Wenceslaus, King of Romans. From the description too I was told where the statue of St John of Nepomuk is along the bridge, as well as the location, along the bridge, where the people found his body in River Vlata.

By memorizing the order of the statues along the right side of Charles Bridge, I squezed myself through the huge crowd on the bridge while keeping track on the number of the statues I passed by, until I reached before the portion of the bridge that was under maintanence.

The under maintenence portion was fenced, and the statue of St John of Nepomuk was right the first statue inside the fence. It was a relief to finally find it, with some roses that visitors tied on the fence to salute him.

I thought I was lucky to be able to still have a look at the statue, but a worker of the construction side told me that I wasn't lucky because "you should rub on the plate under the statue, and it'll make you lucky.."

Hmmm...

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Finaly I got caught for using a 24-hours rail pass for more than 24 hours.

I thought I was smart enough to break the rule. The rule is, once we purchase a rail pass, we need to verify it by stamping the time and date on it by ourselves, so that the 24-hour validity will start counting from the time stamped.

Thinking that "as long as the time and date is not stamped on the ticket, then the ticket won't have any expiry date", I decided to take the risk. And to cut the long story short, I got caught and was fined at an amount of Czech Crown which was way far more expensive than to buy another 24-hour rail pass.

To be very frank I wasn't pissed off as I knew very well that I deserved the fine. And it was my big brother Fariz's comment that made me felt lucky, again, in Prague, Czech Republic.

He said, "You are guarded, Man, everytime."

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"Dobry-den" is "Hello" in Czech.

We tried to learn the local language everytime we checked into a new country, but Czech language is obviously hard for us as the language is NOT that common as Italian and German (Austrian uses German language).

However, I quickly picked up the Czech's greeting when a little boy greeted Fariz and I when we were hanging out on the lovely Karluv Most, and the little 'Dobry-den' made the rest of my day.

Until today I still can easily recall the face and the tone of that little boy, shyly greeted us "Dobry-den"; and until today, I still believe that 'Dobry-den' is not as simple as a 'Hello'. I think the word mixed in a magic potion of gypsy, when they greet their friends with this magical word, they made their friends happy and lucky..

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Gypsies are optimistic people. Their life is tough but they take it very positively, because they believe being happy is what life about.

Embracing all the ups-and-downs of life with pure and good heart, being passionate and enthusiastic to life... that bring them good luck and happiness.

At the moment Fariz told me that I'm always guarded, I really felt that I wanted to give him a hug.

Because he let me understood that, I'm so lucky to have that 'somebody' from above to look after me. That 'somebody' -- that Almighty Him -- has been keeping an eye at me, to make sure I'm always stay on the right path, and never deviated.

.. and I'm lucky too, to have a big brother like Fariz, although sometime his 'parental control' is kinda boring. ;P *PEACE* ... (I sneakily called him 'principal' in front of Shahrina and Amir throughout the trip.. and I think you know why...*DOUBLE PEACE* ;P )

ps..: I-dun-know-what-kind-of-detail-do-u-want detail:

1. We lodged at Czech-Inn. Believe me it is STILL a budget hostel eventhough the standard of this 'inn' is as high as any 3-4 stars hotel in Malaysia.

2. Prague is full with artists. You can choose to buy your souvenirs from any souvenir shops which offer you some common and low-quality stuff, or you can actually go straight to an artist and see what he/she got to get some exclusive and lovely stuff as souvenir.

3. Bohemian crystal (?) is cheap here, I think, judging from how much time and money Shahrina and Amir spent when purchasing.

4. If you're a drinker, they said Czech home-made beer is 'unique'..

5. Always beware of the closing time of the places you wish to visit. Most places close at 5pm local time.

6. Prague Hard Rock is just opened there!

7. Photos of the charming Prague is already in my flickr!!