Photo of the day: Children of the evil

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Prague Half Marathon 2009

Well, yeah, one more half-marathon was completed by me, and I had 2 more fingernails dropped from my feet. Although my target was to finish it in less than 2 hours, I could only finish it in 2:06:00, and the improvement from last year was only 00:1:48. I had smooth run till 17th km, and after that my condition dropped fast. The rest of the run was mental fight. I missed 2 weeks of training in February due to sickness and Venice trip, so the affect was obvious. Not satisfied with the result, but satisfied with having completed another long run. No major injuries, so I can continue to do sports soon again. This time I ran in team category, our team EXATEC (university in Mexico) included myself, Cesar(Mexico), Blanca(Spain) and Gabriela (Slovakia). Each of us completed all 21+ km and deserves both thumbs up!

Below are my results:

Split	Time	min/Km	Delta	min/Km	RealTime
5 Km	0.28.21	5,40	0.28.21	5,40	0.27.52
10 Km	0.57.13	5,43	0.28.52	5,46	0.56.44
15 Km	1.25.30	5,42	0.28.17	5,39	1.25.01
Finish	2.06.00	5,58	0.40.30	6,38	2.05.31

And here's some unofficial photos;

EXATEC team before the race - Cesar, Gabriela, Blanca, Aibek

After the finish line - Efrain, Gabriela, Aibek, Cesar

"After race" at Mexican pub "La Casa Blu"

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photo of the Day: Medieval Festivities in Czech land

Simulation of Libusin Battle. Czechs like such simulations of medieval battles. It's sort of cool to dress up in metal like knights and swing the swords a bit. But I wonder how come noone was injured in this mass-to-mass sword and spear fights. Though it is just a simulation, risk of getting injured is major. Apparently they start preparing for it long time before the battle.

When it comes to enjoying your life besides your work, Czechs don't think twice ;)

Medieval Festivities in Libusin (Apr 08) - 070, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

P4260708, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photos of the Day: Old Town Square (Staromestske Namesti)

Old Town Square, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Old Town Square - the only place in Prague that fascinates me every single time I see. Despite my two years in Prague, I automatically become "tourist" again and I've probably have taken hundreds oh photos here throughout the seasons. Much has been said and written about this square. It hosts whatever event is happening in Prague; international marathon finish line, Christmas markets, football fan zone with giant screens, demonstrations, celebrations, performances of street musicians, etc. Medieval Royal Road also passes through the square. Worth to see here are the clock tower with astronomical clocks, Tyn Church, Rokoko palace, Salvador Dali exhibition, St.Nicholas Church, Jan Hus monument and the row of colorful art nouveau houses. And the best view of the square is from the top of the clock tower!

Old Town Square, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Video of the Day: Prague's Street Musicians Series: Crystal glass melodies

Another famous street musician of Prague playing Mozart's 9. symphony and Madonna's "Don't cry for me Argentina" with crystal glasses filled with water. He can be found on the Charles Bridge.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Last Christmas in pictures

I will not get much into details of how Christmas festive time is celebrated in Prague, etc. You can get the idea from the pictures below. Old Town Square is the most happening place with Christmas Market, giant Christmas tree and a stage for festive performances. I guess it is more or less similar to other European cities (I personally witnessed similar atmosphere in Berlin and Budapest). My brief post about it from a year ago is here.

Myself didn't celebrate it in a special way or something. But to keep the tradition going, I bought a carp (freshwater fish, served as a traditional dish in Christmas evening in Eastern Europe). Having no idea how to make soup from it or barely standing its smell, I packed it into my freezer. Venera came over to Prague from Berlin for couple of days, so she fried that carp nicely on the pan :). But I am still keeping its head in the freezer to make a carp soup (need to find recipe). So it was calm period for me, just chilling at home, watching some movies from my 250+ movie collection, and showing around to Venera on couple of occasions. Besides I took some time to work over the planning of my soon-to-be-launched project.



p.s. I like taking pictures of the places I go and things I do. My trips are unimaginable without my camera (nothing fancy, typical touristy Sony Cybershot camera), and I don't get fulfilled from my trips/explorations if I don't document everything interesting I've seen in pictures. And recently, I enjoy editing some of the photos I took with HDR (High Density Resolution) software, and try to convert my ordinary pictures into more colorful and expressive pictures that you see on magazines or postcards.

Moreover, if you want to share and promote your photos on flickr, then there are various methods and tools for that. Flickr itself offers photostream views, but that's not the most user-friendly way of viewing the photos. And in order to post a photo from flickr to your blog, you need to send the photo to your blog as a a new blog entry. However, flickr offers developers access to its API, and that brings to the collection of Great Flickr Tools. The slide show from my Christmas 2009 photos were created using one such tool - PictoBrowser. Another way to view the photos in the browser is via flickriver.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Video of the Day: Christmas Market at Night (Prague)

Holiday period is over, and it's time to get back to the reality. The reality of cold winter, global financial crisis, work, etc. Yet the impressions from these holidays will always stay, and I took some videos to refresh these impressions from time to time. Christmas Market in the historical Old Town square was fabulous. No photos or words will describe, you should come to Prague and witness it yourself next time.

Below video was partly taken from the top of the tower to get a better view from above, and from the center of the market where the stage was.


+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Video of the Day: Famous Street Musician Of Prague

Probably the most famous street musician, Vladimir Pinta, performing at the Christmas Market in the Old Town Square in Prague. Just one glance from the magic Christmas atmosphere here.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photo of the Day: Autumn in Prague

IMG_2554, originally uploaded by cozminelu.

View of Parizska Ulice (Paris Street) in Old Town, Prague. Photo was taken by old friend from Romania - Cozminelu.

And here's how Prague looks in spring!
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photo of the Day: Retro Cars of Prague

DSC_0066, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Probably the best way to express-tour the historical parts of Prague. It is not cheap, as you'd expect. This one is asking for 1200 Czech krons (~60 USD, but who trusts dollar now?!) for 40 min drive.

Old Town of Prague can be easily toured by foot. You can use trams as well for sightseeing different parts of the city. But if you want some fantasy, then these retro cars are for you. I have never tried taking one, but I'd be eager to do it some day.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photo of the Day: Make a wish in Prague

DSC02929, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

On the famous Charles Bridge of Prague there's a place where you can make a wish, and it says your wish will come true. It's below the statue of St.John of Nepomuk (if you are coming from Old Town Square direction, then it is the 8th statue on the right side). Not sure about the wish part, but it does attract a lot of tourist attention and adds up to the popularity of the bridge.
If you want to make your wish anyway, then note that you should touch the falling priest on the plaque. It also ensures that you'll come to Prague again (we are living in the age of planes! hellooooo?!!). However, don’t get confused by the shiny dog and woman (the Queen)! Not everybody knows the legend and therefore is not sure what to touch. It became shiny only by chance. It doesn’t mean anything special.
But(!) according to some people, that's still not the place where you should make a wish! The actual place is located meters away from there on the same side. There is a small golden cross marking the spot where St.John of Nepomuk's body was thrown into the Vltava river.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

More friends in town

Time to time I enjoy having here some old friends either from university years or from my internship days in Asia. Azilet came for a day-visit from Munchen (Munich) last spring. He is my buddy from METU, as well as a smart and kind-hearted friend from Kyrgyzstan. Lucky guy didn't come alone from Munchen either, but with 5 girls! What a luck! We have a deficit here ;) Seems like he'd enjoying the company of dozens of Kyrgyz girls who were also working in Munchen.


We spent the day with some nice walk around the city, and I showed them my favorite places around. And as it usually happens with my visitors, I took them to one of my favorite Czech restaurants in Lucerna.


Still looking forward to visit them in Munchen.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Specialties of national cuisine

Manty (mantu) are typical Central Asian dumplings with minced meat and chopped vegetables inside a flat piece of dough. Lamb is the preferred meat, and potatoes, onions or pumpkin can be added on the choice. Then they are steamed in special pots and come in larger sizes compared to Chinese dumplings. The process of cooking is long and tiring, but the output is simply delicious. That you lick your fingers! :)

On every occasion we try to organize such evenings, and it happened couple of times in my kitchen as well. Let the pictures talk about the specialties of the national cuisine and what we like to do afterwards.

It could be perfect team building activity! Forget about paintball and treasure hunt stuff...

Chopping the lamb took lots of time. It's vital to have right equipments as well.


Working hands.


Creativity talks! It seems every region have their own view and truth about manty.

Ready to be steamed.

This is the output - even its look is delicious!

Somehow we always remember to take photos only once the meal is over :)

And that's the best conclusion for the evening after a good meal;

More photos here.
Thanks to Alex for the photos!
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photo of the Day: Childish joy

P1020146, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Nice weekend afternoon. After loads of tasty meal prepared by skilled hands at Zhuldyz's (credits go to Zhuldyz, Kamilya, Dina, Yulia) place, we head to the nearby park and ended up "going back to our childhood". Rope jumping was part of the exercises in the physical training lesson in Soviet schools (not sure if it is still now), as well as the playground activity for kinders (usually girls).
In the photo: Zhuldyz jumping with the view of the panel block apartments behind that indeed reminds our childhood of Soviet times.

P1020120, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Slapy - perfect escape from Prague for a weekend!

The only condition: sunny weather (it is becoming a rare blessing here!)

A 45 minute car or bus ride from Prague, a beautiful reservoir where you can swim, rent boats and windsurf. There are many nice bed & breakfasts and hotels around if you want to make a weekend out of the trip. There are camping areas as well, so you can even bring your own tents. Wooden cottages that can host up to 4 people are ideal if you want to go with friends and not to spend much for accommodation. At that time we we were there it was 575 Kc (~25 Euro) per night per bungalow, and that is about 6 euro per person at Autocamp Skalice! You only pay 40kc to park your car. The main beach area has changing rooms, a bar and fast food places. Food at those fast food places are not of good quality though. So you can consider to bring your own food. Or you can do what Czechs do; bring sausages and cook them on a fire! There are campfire areas as well.

Recommendation: We stayed at Autocamp Skalice. Their website says;

We invite you to visit Skalice campsite situated 35 km south of Prague, on the left bank of Lake Slapy. One of the advantages of this campsite is its close proximity to many historic Czech monuments - the castels Karlštejn, Orlík, Zvíkov, Dobříš, Příbram and Konopiště - as well as Prague. Of further interest is a 45 km boat excursion around Lake Slapy.

Services offered:
• cottages with accommodations for four people (bedsheets included)
• electric hook-ups for mobile homes and campers • campsites for tents
• a group kitchen with electric stoves and cold boxes
• restaurant services offering breakfast, lunch and dinner
• food and basic toiletries sold
• rental boats, bicycles, table tennis and badminton
• fishing Open from May 1 to September 30 We look forward to your visit and wish you a pleasant stay at Skalice

Contact phone: (mobile) +420 606 487 465

Prices: http://www.chatky.cz/e/cenik.htm

Reservation: You better make it in advance.

How to get there:

By bus: Not recommended but it's the cheapest way. Buses leave from Smichovske Nadrazi in Andel, Praha-5. Take yellow metro line to Smichovske Nadrazi station, get out of metro station to find bus stops in front of the train station. Then take bus to Buš - then walk about 1,5 km until the camping area. Buš is one of the villages around so there you must ask how to get to "Autocamp Skalice" by foot - it is near Vltava river. This walking part can become a pain on a sunny day, especially if you have heavy bags to carry.

By car: Use your GPS or road map. Here's the basic map - http://www.chatky.cz/mapa.htm

Slapy web-site (for Czech speakers) - www.slapy.cz

+++

I always wonder that there are so many great places around and inside Prague that are hidden from the tourists' and foreigners' eyes, but that are the top destinations and hang out places for the Czechs. It is a bit disappointing, as well, to explore such places nearby after long stay here. So the suggestion is to have more local friends anywhere you go in order not to miss to explore such hidden places of the locals.

We went there as a huge group of 20+ people and had a great weekend there. It was Andre's birthday party, and Alice - as a caring girlfriend - decided to organize such a trip for our AIESEC-bond friends in Prague. We drove there on Cedric's car, and it took about 40 mins only. Ride was great itself, it goes along Vltava river for most part of the trip. Also you gotta see how beautiful Czech countryside is in summer!

There are tonns of things you could do in Slapy. Swim in a dam (though you have the feeling of a lake), sail on paddle boats or row boats, relax on the beach, enjoy the campfire at night, go for hiking, play ball games, admire the morning fog over the lake... short and sweet things enough for relaxing weekend. Swimming, paddling and playing football during the day, watching Euro Cup game (where Russia trashed Netherlands) in the evening, and lighting up a campfire and surrounding it at nite and smoking shisha, and watching the morning fog over the lake... that was a great weekend!

More photos will be added once I get them. Always use your own camera!

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photo of the Day: Clock Tower in Prague

Old Town Square - Prague, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Clock Tower with famous astronomical clock (not seen here) at Old Town Square, Prague.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Video of the Day: Old Czech Folklor Song

This video was taken during one of the many festivals in Czech Republic where enthusiasts and hobbyists perform the simulation of the ancient battle from Czech history. These amazing events can be found probably only in Czech Republic. These hobbyists spend many days and hours training how to use those old weapons and prepare for each battle.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photo of the Day: Street Musicians of the Charles Bridge

DSC03431, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

One thing that should not be missed in your Prague visit is the interesting performances by the street musicians on the Charles Bridge (Karluv Most) or at Old Town Square (Staromestka Namesti).

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Prague Spring Photos

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Video of the Day: Czech Musicians in Old Town Square, Prague

Prague's Old Town Square is located in the heart of historical part of the city. It offers one of the magnificent views of Czech history, architecture and culture. On a daily basis, it is possible to see street performers playing all kind of music or performing some shows for the visitors. Famous Astronomical Clock is also located here.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Driving courses in Prague

Guys, I know that many foreigners look for driving courses in Czech Republic with English speaking instructors. It is considerably cheaper than in Western Europe countries. But finding English speaking instructors for good prices is not always possible. Here's one opportunity that I heard from a friend. Haven't checked myself personally, but I'd go for this one otherwise.

http://www.autoskola-amos.cz/index.php?id_str=18

1. Price 13 680 kc (7000 kc must be paid on first class) => 9480 kc in Czech
2. Discount 1000kc if there are 3 or more people attending Theory classes
3. Documents required:
1. Passport+visa (confirming that you are in CR for over 6 months)
2. Form from Practical Doctor
3. Statement – Crime (Vypis z rejstriku trestu)
4. What is included?
1. 28 Practical lessons (5 simulator, 23 in the car)
2. 20-28 Theory lessons
5. 700 is a state fee for a test exam (+ around 3 000kc for translator, who has a state stamp)
6. 50 kc for Driving License in Magistrat

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Medieval Battle of Knights

Story about the medieval battle simulation. Coming next.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Ceska Pojistovna Hockey Tournament

When you talk about ice hockey in Europe, you can't not mention about top 4 European nations in this sport; Sweden, Finland, Russia and Czech Republic. Add to this Canada, and you'd get top 5 in the world probably (would you add US to ice hockey top nation?).

Last weekend I enjoyed watching 2 games; Sweden vs Russia and Czechs vs. Finland. It was Ceska Pojistovna 4 Nations Cup tournament in Liberec (Czech R.), not the major tournament and the teams didn't have their strongest squads. But still there were some NHL players among them, and we are talking about the best hockey nations of Europe anyway! Russians beat Swedes 4:2 easily (Swedes disappointed me a bit), and Finns showed equal game to the Czechs, and only after penalties Czechs could beat them. Not to mention that the arena was full of Czech supporters.

Below are some shots and videos I managed to capture.

Swedes vs. Russians

Short discussion for Sweden

Czechs vs Finns

Last video is the delicacy; Czechs' equalizer goal when they were down 0:1 against Finns! At that attack I felt that the goal was coming and started recording it, and then it came immediately! (you can even hear me saying "I can smell it!" :)) Note that this video is hosted on Flickr (now you can keep your videos in Flickr!), and offers much better quality than Youtube. I guess the days when we will be watching high quality video/films online are not far.

It's Sweden, baby!

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Рассказ Юлии о её недавном визите в Прагу

Недавно в Прагу приезжала Юлия, наша кыргызстанка которая работает в Москве (АУКовская-"брэнд"ед, короче :)). Добавляю её рассказ о Праге, она написала очень интересный "трип-репорт ", и поделилась своими яркими впечетлениями. Кому-то этот рассказ может показаться черезчур позитивным и кое-где переувеличенным, но это её мнение и взгляд, и поэтому надо посмотреть на всё это с её точки зрения. Особенно после Москвы кому-то Прага покажется очень даже тёплым и ярким, кому-то Москва больше нравиться, а кому-то всё в Чехии, включая и чехов, покажется серым, угрюмым и холодным... Каждый смотрит своим биноклем. А ей всё видимо очень тут понравилось. Мне самому было интересно погулять с ней на выходные, показать ей красивые и исторические уголки города и поделиться с ней подобными положительными сторонами уже родной Праги. Мне самому этот город с каждым днём нравится всё больше и больше. Сам я так хорошо не могу описать всё это, поетому предлагаю вам почитать её рассказ если вам интересно узнать ещё одно замечательное мнение о Праге ;)

Как говорится, турист видит только то что хочет видеть. ;)

Вот отрывки из рассказа;

Прага…. «Злата Прага»…. Город-мечта, город-сказка (как я теперь её называю)… Очень романтичный, очень красивый, загадочный, необыкновенный город, где всё дышит «стариной»… У меня сердце замирало от красоты, от того восторга, что я испытывала, «дыша Пражским воздухом» и видя всё это великолепие…

Мои любимые потрясающие «красные крыши», вымощенные камнем и кирпичом дороги, здания в готическом стиле и стиле барокко, великолепные мосты, узкие улочки с сувенирными лавками множеством уютных уличных кафе, разноцветные дома, туристы с фотоаппаратами, солнечные улыбающиеся люди, восхищающиеся необыкновенной красотой сказочного города… Всё это разноцветная и яркая Прага, так полюбившаяся мне и отпечатавшаяся ярким лучиком в моём сердце…:)

Вацлавская площадь – место, где всё начиналось у меня :), откуда я три дня подряд начинала своё путешествие). Она даже какая-то родная стала:) Пока ждала своего спутника-гида – сидела на скамейке и читала. А вокруг «разноцветные» массы туристов: невероятная суета, море улыбок, щелчки фотоаппаратов ,языки всех стран мира! И много солнца и мороженого :)

Поразила меня своей красотой Староместская Площадь, где я почувствовала себя в Средневековой сказке… На этой же площади находятся знаменитые куранты, состоящие из кукол, небесной сферы и календаря. И каждый час, когда бьют куранты, фигурки мило двигаются:)

Сколько раз я видела на картинках великолепный Карлов Мост и так мечтала погулять по нему (особенно поздно вечером). Мечта сбылась..:) Сказочный мост полукилометровой длины, соединяющий Старый город с так называемой Малой Страной. Весь в готическом стиле, с уникальными статуями. Как было замечательно прогуляться по нему, и заворожено понаблюдать за многочисленными художниками, музыкантами, продавцами сувениров и кукол.

А потом мы оказались в месте, которое, наверное, больше всех мне полюбилось в Праге. Всё что я видела в этом "городе-сказке" - всё очень красиво и уникально.. Но это место... Оно не только красиво, оно еще и очень тихое и очень романтичное. Это королевские сады около Пражского Града.. На вершине сам величественный Собор ст.Вита, окружённый толстыми каменными стенами, а перед ним ров.. Такая красота... Средневековая сказка..

А какая там тишина и какая благодать: птички поют... И тихо-тихо... Романтика.. Туда бы летом с книжкой в руках... Или просто приходить и отдыхать..Подумать о чём-нибудь.. Ну или позагорать) Вы не представляете, какое умиротворение я там почувствовала после шумной и суетливой Москвы.. Я бы никогда бы не уезжала оттуда... С грустью в душе покидала это место..


Ну а вечером меня ожидал не менее феерический и великолепный сюрприз: Шоу "Поющих фонтанов". Ребята, это что-то великолепное! У меня не хватает уже запаса моего скудного русского языка и эмоций, чтобы выразить все те чувства, которые я испытала, наблюдая за шоу.. "Большие мурашки бегали по телу":)
Культовая музыка из фильма "Гладиатор", великолепные фонтаны и цветная подсветка в темноте... Жаль, не было балета... На улице еще прохладно.. Как нам объяснили - балерины замёрзнут... Жаль, конечно.. Было бы еще красивее и волшебнее...


Полный рассказ читатйте здесь.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photo of the Day: John Lennon's Wall

DSC03439, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC03438, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

John Lennon's Wall in Prague, Czech Republic

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Prague Half-Marathon (21+ km)

Great relief and satisfaction! Swollen foot fingers, sprained knee, lost few kilograms. This is the result of my first ever Half-Marathon run (21+ km). I made this distance in 2 hours 07 minutes, it's not the best result I could pull out, but I already felt my knee hurting on the 3. kilometer. (after spraining it 3 days ago in my last training while running for 12 km at -1 degree at night. I had my shorts on, and my legs got frozen. I guess my leg muscles couldn't warm up well in that cold and sprained from the long run) Anyway, all in all, it was great experience! I'm planning to do few more half-marathons before going for the full one. Believe me, you gotta take it seriously and train properly if you wanna make it while enjoy it.

Another Kyrgyz friend, Talant, joined me for this run and we were proud to represent Kyrgyzstan, the honor was ours. And only Kyrgyzstan represented Central Asia! Besides Talant some other friends from work (Alex, Jacobo, Frederic-my boss) and AIESEC community (Gabriele, Efrain, Stas) ran in this event, thus congratulations goes to all! Well done, lads!

Pictures were taken during the race by some friends who were there along the running track and those who came to cheer for us! Special thanks goes to them, and to other friends who called me before the race and showed me their support. I feel loved ;).

Our photo from the official web-page www.pim.cz! We, Kyrgyz, rule! ;)



Official video from PIM.CZ on Youtube;

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Photo of the Day: Kostnice Ossuary in Kutna Hora (CZ)

DSC03007, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

In 1278, Henry, the abbot of Sedlec was sent to the Holy Land. On returning, he brought soil from Golgotha and sprinkled it on the ground here. As a consequence, the burial ground was considered holy and became extremely popular. In 1511 a chapel was constructed to house the bones from abolished graves. The chapel is open to the public, and contains the bones of about 40000 people, arranged by František Rint in 1870. Rint's work includes an enormous chandelier including every bone in the body, and a crucifix style arrangement near the main altar.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Easter Monday in Czech Republic (Velikonoce)

It's all about men whipping women!

Well, the reality is not that harsh! Czechs have this bizarre tradition of men whipping women with pussywillow on Easter Monday. And women should give men easter eggs in return. It is still widely practiced in even today's civilized days, and sometimes, men forget that the whipping should be symbolical, but not the beating...

This tradition is still largely upheld, especially in villages and small towns, although it may have lost its symbolism and romance and is now performed mainly for fun. Some boys and men seem to have forgotten that the whipping is supposed to be only symbolic and girls don't always like that. The reward has also changed - money and shots of plum brandy (slivovice) are often given instead of or in addition to painted eggs and candy. So by early afternoon, groups of happy men can be seen staggering along the roads... (read full article)

I am going out tomorrow. But should find the pussywillow first.

(Photo is taken from www.bukovinasociety.org)
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

#1 Prague Guide

expats.cz should be the first web-site you should visit if you are planning to relocate to Prague be it a business, study or work! Just note it down somewhere...

More than that, every year they release fantastic and very useful "Czech Republic Survival Guide or Business Directory" guide book for the foreigners living here. It is not a tourist guide, and it is not a magazine with paid articles and reviews. As they claim, it is useful, insightful, comprehensive, objective & unbiased expatriate publication for the international community in the Czech Republic. A great source of information telling practical tips on resolving work-permit/visa issues, starting up a business, finding a job, studying and enjoying your life in Prague. 160 Page guide booklet for newcomers to Prague, covering such topics as relocation, education, business, real estate, employment, accommodation, beauty, fitness, food & drink, entertainment, relocation advice, foreigners police -- how to use the post office, get a mobile contract.. and much more.

If you haven't got your copy, then ask it for free;

Howlings Media -- Expats.cz
Anglicka 26
Prague 2

Call : +420 222 510 133

As necessary as a toilet paper, but for different uses.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

It's snowing in Prague... finally!

Snowy winter is a myth here, at least for me. I haven't seen any proper snow for past 2 winters I spent in Czech land. But this is Europe, and weather is getting more messed up here year by year. So not to my big surprise we got plenty of snow storms for past 2 days. In between these storms, sun was happily shining. As usual snow didn't last long.

Some of my Indian colleagues who are in Prague for 3-4 month business trip actually were blessed to see and feel the real snow for the first time in their life! Biswandeep was one of them. He dragged me out of the office to see it. By good fortune, I had my camera with me yesterday (I was planning to take video of Frozen Prague flash-mob event - read previous post). So here's the video of Biswandeep losing his snow virginity; :)))




That's how The Park looks at snowy nite (by the way, The Park is where I work. Each building inside The Park is either occupied by one company or shared by few of them. Besides DHL, Accenture, InBev, Sony, IBM, Sun, etc. have their offices here);


+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Frozen Prague

It started with this flash-mob event in New York's Grand Central station, and I'd say it was successful;





Then, similar event happened in London as well. Hundreds of people suddenly froze in Trafalgar Square;




And, of course, our Czechs tried to do it as well! :) Guess what happened?! Let me give you a hint; the organizers chose one of the central metro stations - Muzeum, which is in fact a small, narrow and dark place for such events. But the turnout was huge as Florin writes (I missed it due to work). That created some blockages to enter the metro station. Organization was poor as well, and things got out of control as Daily Prague Monitor reports. It could have been much better if it was held in Old Town Square or Wencesclas Square, but the trial was not that bad at the end;




I expect more of these events happening in different cities around Europe and further. I can already imagine it happening in Shinkuku area (Tokyo) or in Red Square (Russia). What about Bishkek?! Where in Bishkek, that's another question.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Thinking of moving to Prague?!

Here's the Ultimate Guide for those thinking of relocating to Prague. I was sent this guide text from our HR, I hope they will not sue me or something for sharing it. Nothing confidential or internal anyway, and sharing is gaining! Very brief and to the point, it answers all those initial questions that may come to your mind when you decide to move to different country. I added some own notes with red font where I felt to add some explanations.

Relocating to Prague


Your guide to Living and working in the Czech Republic

Moving to a new country is always daunting, especially when you are considering a new position as well. Visiting your destination is one way to get a feel of the place, but before you do that, here’s a flavor of what to expect.

Why Prague?

While markets are opening up and tourist dollars coming in, Prague, in the geographical heart of Europe, is increasingly becoming a popular option among British and other nationals looking to relocate. Large international companies are choosing Prague as a base.

So why? Not least because of the fact that it is still relatively inexpensive compared to other European cities - although no less appealing. For instance, a three-course meal in an absolutely first-rate restaurant costs approximately £25.

And there are many places to spend your money - with Prague's vibrant nightlife gaining an increasing reputation as one of the more lively scenes in Europe.


Working in the Czech Republic

Working in the Czech Republic requires firstly a work permit, and then a long-term residency permit. Applications for either of these require you to complete a sizable amount of documentation. If you take time to make sure that your side of the application has followed the letter of the law, you stand a greater chance of a hassle-free experience. The irony of the use of the expression "long-term" in this case will not have escaped most foreign visitors who have stayed more than a year- it lasts just six months, whereupon the process has to be repeated. For more information on visas, please use this link.
http://www.mzv.cz/wwwo/mzv/default.asp?ido=7306&idj=2&amb=1&ikony=True&trid=3&prsl=True&pocc1=1

The education system

Czech Republic’s education system starts with nine year‘s compulsory education between the ages of 6 – 15. Following this is a choice of three types of secondary school - all of these require the pupil to sit an entrance exam.

- Grammar (gymnasia) - general education in preparation for university - leading to a final exam, Maturita
- Specialized - also leads to a Maturita, but these schools offer specialist subjects, such as music, science, economics and so on
- Vocational - those not choosing to take further academic courses, these schools are designed to prepare students for the working world

There are a variety of school options for non-Czech nationals - fee paying and non-fee paying local schools. Please find below a few details of some schools:
WWW.BISP.CZ
WWW.ISP.CZ
WWW.EISP.CZ
WWW.RIVERSIDESCHOOL.CZ
WWW.DSP-PRAHA.CZ

http://www.branajazyku.cz/
http://www.horackova.cz/
http://server.lupacovka.cz/sQuirrel.NET/Web/(jbmxy345v2www0zmtazjl545)/zjsLupacova.aspx
http://www.kladska.cz/
http://www.calypso.cz/rakovskeho/



Money, Money, Money!


The Czech currency is the Koruna, often written as Kc or CZK. The lower enominations are called Hellars.

http://www.cnb.cz/en/plat_bankovky.php - to view Czech bank notes
http://www.xe.com/ - exchange rates

There are plenty of ATMs (or bankomats) on the street. You may find that before your residency permits are completely valid, only one or two banks will allow you to set up an account.
- For simple online banking you can use eBanka.
- Citibank offers a 24 hour telephone banking service (in English) and internet banking.
- Ceska Sporitelna provides a specialized expat service.
- Komerční Banka is able to open accounts for non–Czech nationals. (I use it, it sucks somehow. I get my salary with 2-day delay, they charge if more than 3 ATM transactions are made on their own ATMs. But similar problems may occur with other banks.)

http://www.ebanka.com
http://www.citibank.cz
http://www.expats.cz/prague/czech/accountants/ceska-sporitelna/


For CZK 100 you can buy:
- About 4 beers (so cheap!!! and quality of Czech bear is great! at least this is what they say ;))
- Some bread rolls, cheese and a carton of juice
- Around a 10 minute cab ride
- A meal in an inexpensive Czech restaurant

There are a few things that are different about the banking system. Czechs do not use cheques. The other thing people have difficulty with is paying off credit card bills back home, which involves complicated transfers. If your current bank offers online banking, it might be best to sort it out before you come. Travelers cheques
are fine - but beware, banks and hotels charge commission.


Accommodation

Prague 1 (Staré Mesto / Malá Strana)
This is the beautiful old heart of the city. The river runs between the two areas. Rent is generally at a premium here compared to other locations in Prague and in this neighborhood you are usually surrounded by tourists all year round.

Prague 2 (Vinohrady)
As the name suggests, this place was once full of vineyards. It is by far one of the most popular and peaceful places to live. It also has several bars, lounges, parks and is a great hub for public transport. The buildings are still very grand, old (mostly dating back to the 18th century) and full of character. It's only a ten or fifteen minute cab ride to the centre. (I live very close to this place although it is officially Praha-10. It's fantastic to live in central Prague districts, it's close to everything happening there, and buildings are more of art-noveau style. Difference for the flat rents between the central area and remote areas could be 200-300 USD, but it pretty much worths it. Most of the other parts of Prague and newer districts have more of a communist-style architecture and housing. Those famous "panel blocks". Don't miss "real Prague life" while trying to save some money!)

Prague 3 (Žižkov)
This is another popular and very pretty area. Again, with trendy bars, surrounded by parks and greenery, and with great transport connections.

Prague 5 (Smíchov)
This is a popular area for families. This area has a large shopping mall and supermarket. Although further away from the centre, the houses tend to be larger and good value for money.

Prague-10, Prague-6 are also not far from the center and nice places to live. Check related links for more information about all districts of Prague.


Travel

The transit system in Prague is clean, efficient, easy to use, relatively safe and above all cheap! There is the underground (or metro) and a good network of trams and buses. There are three metro lines (red, yellow and green) making the system pretty easy to navigate. The tram routes are a little more extensive (26 at last count). The metro stops at midnight and starts again at 5.00 am. Trams run throughout the night, and are on a restricted service after midnight.

Metro
Line A (Green) - running east to west from Skalka to Dejvická

Line B (Yellow) - running east to west from Černý most to Zličín

Line C (Red) - running north to south from Ladvi to Háje

There are three transfer stations in the city center where two lines intersect:
· Můstek (lower end of Wenceslas Square) - lines A and B
· Muzeum (upper end of Wenceslas Square) - lines A and C
· Florenc (main bus station) - lines B and C

Metro Link: http://www.dpp.cz/download/schema-metra-v-praze.pdf


Top transport tips!

· Tickets are valid for both metro and tram. A CZK 20 ticket will give you 60
minutes on the system at peak time and 90 minutes off peak. It also allows you
to make transfer (i.e. from one metro line to another, or from tram to metro). A
CZK 14 ticket will give you 15 minutes on-peak and 30 off-peak - you cannot
transfer.
· The best place to purchase a ticket is at a metro station. At the top of the escalators at every station are yellow machines.
· “Tabák” or “Trafika” (newsagents) also sell tickets at the counter. In a store ask for “Lístek za dvacet” (CZK 20) or “Lístek za čtrnáct” (CZK 14). There are also (in the odd case) a few freestanding machines on the street, mostly downtown. You can buy 24-hour tickets for CZK 80. You only need to stamp them in the machine once, not every time you travel.
· Watch out for pickpockets - as with any large city, Prague's transportation system attracts a lot of traffic. Be smart, be safe!

How to get long-term metro+tram+bus passes (issued with a photo-ID)

Selected metro stations such as Strašnice, Mùstek, Muzeum, I.P. Pavlova, etc. which have ticket offices where you can buy travel passes. You'll need to take a couple of passport photographs with you. Try and make sure you get one at the beginning of the quarter (January, April, July, October) or year, as many passes are valid by date rather than by the amount you pay.

Taxis

Cabs are fairly inexpensive. The recommendation is to order a taxi as opposed to flagging one down on the street. Sedop; Citycar; AAA are some options. Some companies run an SMS taxi service, eliminating the need to try and say unpronounceable street names. It is possible to send a text to them with the street name and the number.

Sedop +420 777 666 333
Citytaxi: SMS +420 602 393 070
AAA (voice): +420 233 113 311

Driving

You should carry your international driver's license, home country driver's license and passport at all times. Make sure you have documentation. Any person eligible for a company car will need to attend a course.


Things to do in Prague

Food

Traditional Czech cuisine is a little heavier than you may be used to with bread dumplings, hearty stews, a lot of pork and cabbage. If you really want to test those arteries, we recommend the deep-fried cheese (smažený sýr), which is a firm favorite.

Eating out

The great thing about Prague is the restaurant culture. The prices are very reasonable at traditional Czech restaurants (and there are lots of them).

Outside of the traditional fare there is a dazzling array of places to feast in from Thai to Sushi. There is bound to be an international restaurant that's to your liking.

Useful websites:
http://www.squaremeal.cz
http://www.inyourpocket.com


Social life

The Czech Republic is one of the most musical countries in Eastern Europe. Music is a key part of education in schools, and if classical music is one of your hobbies, you'll be thrilled with the numerous concerts and evening events on offer. There's plenty to do outdoors, and the terrain offers good opportunities for hiking, skiing and water sports.
Most foreign films are shown in their original format, but watch out for the words “titulek” meaning subtitled, and “dabovat” meaning dubbed.
Night-owls will find clubs, bars and casinos in the larger cities. Since the Czech Republic gained relative freedom, some aspects of life have been progressing faster than others - and entertainment is one of them. Bars that are 'in' are just as quickly uncool, so it's hard to say where the best spots are. Akropolis in Prague is well-known for playing world music. Please review the information at the links below for a
guide of things to do in the Czech Republic:
http://www.ticketpro.cz/?@en/index
http://www.virtualtourist.com
http://www.timeout.com/travel/prague/
http://www.pragueexperience.com/clubs_nightlife/clubs_nightlife.asp

Shopping
…
… is a whole new experience in the Czech Republic. You can find major western European brands and you'll find plenty of smaller unique shops that are worth visiting if you want more choice. Prague is excellent for finding antiques and the famous Czech glass and crystalware. Opening hours vary, although major stores can open from 6am, and tourist areas are increasingly open on Sundays. If you're in the city and it all becomes too much, there are plenty of cafés to rest in.
http://www.pavilon.cz/
http://www.palacflora.cz
www.metropole.cz
http://www.oc-letnany.cz/cz/
www.slovanskydum.cz

The Great Outdoors

The Czechs are a sporty nation and they love the great outdoors. Whether it's rollerblading, mushroom picking or rock climbing, as soon as there's a break in the weather they'll be out there. In winter skiing and snowboarding are very popular, and being in central Europe you'll have a range of resorts to choose from. Even healthy Czechs do not escape the drinking phenomenon - quite a lot of gyms also sell beer and allow smoking in the lobby. Of course there are too many gyms to mention, but here's a few of our tried and tested.

World Class Fitness
Wenceslas Square, Marriot Hotel on V Celnici and Chodov
The Wenceslas Square World class is the biggest of all the gyms. They offer good quality equipment, saunas, exercise classes, instruction, yoga, pilates. They encourage full time membership and the Chodov gym is in the V Parku‘s complex where DHL is based. (I go to BBC Fitness which is also quite good and cheaper than World Class. In fact, BBC Fitness near my office is way bigger than World Class branch located there as well, and cheaper! Check for more info.)

Golf
It's a budding sport here but there are some beautiful places to hit a few rounds.
Golf Resort, a short drive outside Prague.
Tel: 311 604 991 or visit www.karlstejn-golf.cz

Horse Riding
Horse riding is quite popular in Prague. For English-speaking schools and instruction try:
Velkostatek Tetín (near the town Beroun). Tel: 602 633 775
Zamek Ctìnice (near Letòany shopping Centre). Tel: 736 605 766
Or log onto : www.vt.equicenter.cz

(Well, it seems that this guide was written more for upper management who would go for Golf and Horse Riding activities ;))

Kickboxing / Thai boxing / Boxing / Karate / Taebo

Delroy’s Gym Zborovská, Andìl Tel: 257 327 042
As well as hosting a gym and ladies aerobics and body styling sessions, Delroy does
private and group martial arts sessions.

Swimming
Podolí consists of one indoor and two outdoor pools. The indoor pool and one of the
outdoor pools are both Olympic sized. The address is Podolská 74, Vyšehrad.

Indoor climbing walls
There are too many to list, so here are two of the more established ones. It's possible to hire shoes at all of them.
Ultra Ant Club, Týnská 17, Prague 1
Boulder Bar, V Jámì 6, Prague 1
Useful links,
http://www.czechinfocenter.com/
Prague Business Journal
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/

Hope it will be useful!

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Annual corporate party (Photo Report)

(Some photos were taken by professional photographers. Some are from friends' cameras. All credits for them)

My guest for the party - Aigerim


That's what I like about corporate parties; "Can I have a bit of this? And this! That one, as well. Oh that one?! Sure!..."


"Can I have avocado juice?!" - C.Yilmaz :)


Theme for the night; Latin Dances - Salsa


I missed the desserts. I was somehow too busy with beef steak... and of course "socializing" meanwhile!





Well, I really don't understand why there was such a booth at corporate salsa party, but anyway it offered some good amount of amusement for people. All these fancily carved fruits is work of art by this dude.


Now, this was cool! At least good piece of entertainment.


AIESEC style photo


The only Central Asian gang of the evening (Kamilya, Adil, yours truly, Aigerim, Yulia)



hairstyle 2.0


Alex, Kamilya and Vanessa


Though I had bad luck with broken remote control system.


Our Kazakhstani beauties


It started with some live music performances and salsa dance shows


Salsa performance by some colleagues


Circus :)

another one

Host group of the evening. That reminded me the actual theme of the evening. Though many guests just turned up in evening dress.


View from the party venue

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

2007 Trips - Cesky Krumlov (Czech Rep)

One of the memorable trips of 2007 was my trips to Cesky Krumlov. In March I went there with Fatima, Martin and Alba. On my second trip my flatmate Linda and Miki joined me. Or to put it correctly I joined them. This time it was end of summer and weather was perfect for sightseeing. And we went for the castle tour to explore the Cesky Krumlov castle. Besides we got to see more of Royal Gardens as well. This town is one of the protected places by World Heritage Sites, thus a must-visit place in Czech Land! More information and photos can be found in my previous post.

View of the Castle

Do not rush around and try to enjoy wandering around the town streets

A shop entrance

Central square

Trdelnik shop. You should try this local pastry, sold in most of the touristic spots around country

View of riverside from the Castle tower

Town view

Castle and town view

Linda and Miki on the tower

Park, part of Royal Gardens

Miki's newfound house?

Lake with lotus flowers

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Run for Fun - Prague Marathon '08

Prague International Marathon always attracts thousands of runners from local population and foreign visitors. Besides the professional marathoners, thousands of locals and tourists join this festival for physical and mental challenge. What makes it even more attractive is that marathon route goes through many popular spots like Charles Bridge, Old Town, riverside and thousands of people will be cheering you along the road. It's like becoming a sports star for that day.

Last year, I ran at 8-km Caddy City Run with some friends. Besides main full and half-marathon runs, Prague Marathon has smaller runs like 8-km City Run or 4-km family run or 10-km Rollerskate Race. This year I am up for a challenge for Half-Marathon (21.097494 km) that will happen at 29-March this year. We already have small group, and I am also trying to get more people for this challenge. It's easier and more fun to have collective run.

Here's the route for this year's Half-Marathon (www.pim.cz);

What do you need to run in a marathon?

+ Long-distance runs require proper preparation and you should start training 2-3 months before the run. You should build up miles gradually. In Prague there are several parks where you can run and I found out about Havlickovy Sady in my neighbourhood. Correct nutrition intakes highly affects your training benefits as well. Besides cardiovascular exercises, you should boost your fitness with some weight-lifting exercises as well. And never forget to stretch!

+ Proper running shoes! It's obvious yet sometimes people ignore it. Last year I ran with Converse style athletic shoes and regretted it on every step I made during the run. Also, do not buy new running shoes just before the race, but run in the ones that you were training with. Same is recommended for other running wear.

+ Do not forget to register, and get your marathon set that includes;
- start number with electronic chip
- official Adidas T-shirt
- start bag
- etc. (see full list of things you get by registration here)

+ eHow.com has useful articles on Running. Realbuzz.com provides some podcasts about running and trainings. Also, another useful article about Half-Marathon preparation for Novices is here.

Here's the documentary about Hervis Prague Half Marathon '07;



and another documentary about Volkswagen Prague Marathon '07;



It's be interesting to hear other's opinions and recommendations about marathon and related. Those in Prague are welcome to join!

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Prague Top Attractions and Sightseeing - #1

Probably you have seen above view of Prague in many Prague postcards and sites. For me, it is very special and favorite place in the city. Besides this magic view Vltava river and row of bridges (including historical Charles bridge), you can also see central old town of Prague, and get that feeling of being in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. In other words, that's where you feel what is Prague about. Besides there's beautiful cafe, Hanavsky Pavilon (Hanau Pavilion), at this very point where you can sit and enjoy your food and drink together with this picteristique view.

How to get there?
It is located in Letna Park, great place for jogging, relaxing and enjoying view of the city from above. In fact it is just in walking distance either from Prague Castle, Charles Bridge or Old Town Square. Below map shows the exact place (marked by "1" in blue sign) of Hanavsky Pavilon.
From old town square walk towards the river on Parizska street, cross the Cechuv Bridge and climb up the hill stairs (you will see huge pendulum in front of you on the hill, previously there used to stand biggest statue of Stalin). Once you reach the pendulum, walk towards Prague castle along the top edge of the hill and follow the signs.

It's usually hot spot for photographers. Make sure you bring your camera and videocameras and make most of it.

Here's sneak preview of the view from that spot and Hanavski Pavilon cafe;





Prague Castle, not too far from Letna Park


view of Old Town


Letna Park - perfect place for weekend relaxation

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Another birthday abroad

Being born on the first day of the year, my birthday has been celebrated quietly after the hard partying on the night of 31st December connecting to 1st January. Maybe it is sometimes forgotten because of this reason, but on the other hand it makes the last and the first days of the year special for me. I feel overloaded with both joy and deep thoughts of self-evaluation; while enjoying these special days, I'm also busy in mind with the thoughts of flying time and what I achieved in the past year. And making the wishes and plans for brand new year. Too much emotions, mood swings, joy and sadness knocking me every single second. One positive thing is that people get depressed by feeling they are getting older twice a year; on New Year's Day and on their birthdays. For me, I experience it once a year.


This year I already received great gifts from many people; really nice gift all the way from Japan, nice small painting from AIESEC related friends in Prague who also came to our place for partying two evenings in a row, and other gifts from some other friends. Also, I received really sweet postcards, emails and SMSs from the friends all over the world who still remembered and wrote. I kept receiving SMSs on every few minutes in the morning and through the day. I appreciate it all, and I think this was another great year to have met so many new friends and still be remembered by old ones.

Also, 1-January is celebrated as independence day here. Czech Republic separated from Slovaks on this day. Thus every year Czech government celebrates it by huge firework show! Well, I also accept it as birthday present from them ;). I couldn't take video as I forgot my camera, but there are plenty of them on YouTube;


+++ Check my travel photo sets at

New Year in Prague

For past 5 years, I met New Year in 5 different countries;

2004 - Turkey
2005 - Singapore
2006 - Taiwan
2007 - Kyrgyzstan
2008 - Czech Republic

This year I celebrated it few times with few different groups.
First it was with Kyrgyz community in Prague in a chinese restaurant on 29-December. It was more like a dinner and toasts, some music and drinking. I'd say typical New Party that people have in Kyrgyzstan. To be honest, I was bored shortly. Not my way of celebrating something, and not my style of spending time. Probably I just went to there to see some people I haven't seen for a while. And there were not many young people there.

Meanwhile Kyrgyz students were organizing another party at the club in another place (seems like they already knew that the other party would be boring). After dinner, I joined the second party and it was much more fun. It was in a club on the riverside.

On the night of 31st I celebrated it with our international gang here. Mostly these are ex and current AIESEC trainees and some other people related to AIESEC or friends. We started with party in our place. Lots of food and drink as usual. (Still we've got many drinks and snacks at home after the party. None of my flatmates drink them as well, only wine. So we will treat all to our guests.) Linda organized whole thing, and credits go to her and to everyone who contributed with their dishes and drinks. As it became a "tradition", our gang got drunk before going out for further partying. But this time we rushed to Pertin Hills first, they said there would great view of the city in fireworks. Indeed we made it just on time, when we got on enough height to see, Prague turned into firework land. Everywhere fireworks were blowing and soon sky was covered with smoke. Indeed fantastic view! It took about 15-20 minutes. Just imagine how much money was spent for all these fireworks?...
Later we checked few clubs and all of them were full with clubs so soon enough we went back home to continue it on the next day.
My photos here! More to be added.

Here's the short video that I took. It's dark in video, not very clear, but you can get piece of what was happening there that night;



And here's old video that I took 2 years back from now. Fantastic fireworks show on the tallest building of the world in Taipei (Taiwan). Now I call it the firework show! Czechs have long way to catch up with Taiwanese, no offense. ;)




And here's the video, taken by someone else, of how it was in Taipei101 this year;

My NY wish to readers

Happy New Year to everyone! Hope this will be the year of hope, passion, patience, success, love and new achievements in both your professional and personal lives! And for the travelers and adventurers, I wish many new explorations and discoveries this year, and many new people to meet along the road!

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Meeting the star of my childhood

Aiturgan Temir (Temirova) is one of the legends of the Kyrgyz cinema world. She was entitled for several big honours during Soviet Union, and she was one of the brightest figures on the screens in Soviet Kyrgyz Republic days. Beautiful and cheerful, she won the hearts of millions of people with her performances on several films.
Nowadays, she is as beautiful and pleasant person as ever. She has been living in Brno (Czech Republic) for past 10 years, yet she preserved her love and patriotism to Kyrgyz nation. She is still citizen of Kyrgyzstan, and spends part of the year back there.

We met up with Aiturgan eje ("eje" means "older sister", but also polite way of calling women older than us) after the Parliament Elections in Kyrgyz Consulate in Prague. I've been in touch with her over the emails, and expressed my wish to meet with the star of my childhood since then. Aiturgan eje is already has 2 grandsons, yet she preserved her beauty and young look despite her age. We spent 3-4 hours chatting about everything; from Kyrgyz film history to current politics. She told us how the films used to be taken under the strict control of KGB and censorship, how many scenes were replaced after Moscow's review, and her opinion about current films. Also, recently she released her first album called "Aruuzat" ("Purity"), and it contains Kyrgyz folk music with some modern taste. And of course, I got a signed CD from her!

If she gives me permission, I'll place these songs here for download.



Here's the interview with Aiturgan Temir (in Russian) that was published in "Komsomalskaya Pravda" some time ago. Sorry, I don;t have its English version.

(http://bishkek.kp.ru)

Актерские работы:
Алые маки Иссык-Куля, 1972 г.", (х/ф)
Белый пароход, 1976 г.", (х/ф)
Не ставьте лешему капканы..., 1981 г.", (х/ф)
Волчья яма, 1983 г.", (х/ф)
Снайперы, 1985 г.", (х/ф)
Дилетант, 1987 г.", (х/ф)
Приют для совершеннолетних, 1987 г.", (х/ф)
Восхождение на "Фудзияму", 1989 г.", (х/ф)
Заговор, 1990 г.", (х/ф)

Айтурган Темирова снимается у режиссера, получившего «Оскар»

Даже живя в Чехии, актриса не забывает о корнях.

Известная актриса раскрыла «Комсомолке» некоторые свои секреты

Известность ей принесла первая роль в фильме Болота Шамшиева «Алые маки Иссык-Куля», снятого в 1972 году. После этого были другие роли, не менее интересные и запоминающиеся в таких фильмах, как «Белый пароход», «Среди людей», «Волчья яма» и других. Много случилось в ее жизни событий – приятных и грустных, счастливых и не очень. Но в одном Айтурган твердо уверена – ей повезло и она счастливый человек. Вот уже несколько лет актриса живет в Чехии. Зимой она записала диск «Аруузат» с песнями и в Бишкек приехала с желанием провести свой бенефис и презентацию диска.

- Трудно ли женщине реализовать себя как личность?

- Я считаю, что женщине тяжело себя реализовать, особенно если женщина одна. Большинство женщин смогли состояться только при поддержке кого-то. Главное, чтобы рядом был муж, близкий человек, который может поддержать. Также и в кино - актрисам трудно самим себя продвинуть, если нет рядом режиссера, который способен реально помочь. Что бы ни говорили, очень трудно в искусстве подняться, если не поддержат режиссер, или драматург, или оператор, или сценарист.

- Значит, даже талантливая женщина реализовать себя сама не может?

- Только если она необыкновенно талантлива. Но ведь таких, к сожалению, мало. А если не вундеркинд, а просто способная, то нет. Я свою жизнь в творчестве начала рано, в 15 лет. Получилось, что я как-то плавно стала заниматься кино. В одном своем интервью Олег Янковский сказал: «В кино сняться может любой, но вот остаться в кино – не каждый». Мне повезло с первым моим фильмом «Алые маки Иссык-Куля», где я снялась, когда училась в школе. Меня пригласили, сделали фотопробы. Худсовет - человек 25 - смотрят, подходишь ли ты, затем кинопробы, после которых опять же худсовет оценивает твои сценические способности, соответствуешь ли ты образу. И мне повезло - меня утвердили на эту роль. Мне вновь повезло, что моей героине было столько же лет, и я играла почти самое себя. И еще повезло, что на Всесоюзном кинофестивале я получила приз за лучший дебют. Хотя моими конкурентками были хорошие казахские и узбекские актрисы, исполнявшие главные роли, а у меня - даже не главная роль. Я гордилась полученным призом: приз – это, если можно так сказать, открытие творческой дороги. Председателем жюри был тогда Сергей Бондарчук, который сказал мне: «Добро пожаловать в кино!». Так я стала актрисой. Многие люди думают, что режиссер снимает в первую очередь свою жену, но это ошибочное мнение. Думаю, я своим дебютом опровергла это мнение.

В путешествии с сыном Чингизом по Франции.

- Но, кроме везения, что еще необходимо?

- Есть актрисы, которые с большим трудом пробивают себе дорогу в кино. Я знаю многих наших известных актрис, чью жизнь в искусстве не назовешь легкой, у кого не было даже минимального процента везения. Одна из актрис так говорила мне: «Ты, Айтурган, счастливая. У тебя муж известный режиссер, у тебя не болит голова, и ты можешь любому режиссеру отказать. Тебя муж снимать будет. А вот мне приходится все делать самой и самой пробиваться не только в кино, в театре, но и в жизни, потому что у меня нет рядом человека, который бы поддержал». Я знаю, что не только здесь, но и в России, и во всем мире актрисы вынуждены свои роли добывать через постель. Я как-то видела передачу, где Шэрон Стоун рассказывала, что она тоже через это прошла. А что еще необходимо? Как и в любом деле: желание, труд, и тогда все получится, чем бы вы ни занимались.

- В любой профессии есть и минусы и плюсы. Чего больше для актрис?

- Я думаю, что плюсов больше, тем более что это все-таки в большей степени женская профессия. Ведь любая женщина – актриса, и на протяжении всей жизни она играет разные роли, всегда есть элемент игры. А в искусстве интересно создавать образы. А это предполагает, что ты постоянно следишь за собой, держишь себя в форме, чтобы тебе дали еще роли. И когда тебя узнают на улице, уважают, подходят, просят автограф – это приятно. А что касается «звездной» болезни, то я никогда не болела ею. И вообще, я не могу назвать себя уж такой звездой. Для меня звезды – это такая, например, голливудская актриса, которая мне нравится, - Джулия Робертс. Я не считаю себя звездой потому, что не сделала ничего такого великого, хотя и сыграла много ролей. Я прочитала как-то интервью одного известного человека, который сказал: «Когда я узнал, что я бездарный поэт, было слишком поздно – я стал знаменитым». Да, я стала знаменитой, но не считаю, к сожалению, что я сделала что-то такое значительное. Все мои роли не такие уж гениальные. Хотя и были мечты сыграть сначала одну роль, потом другую. Ну а если говорить серьезно, то хочу сняться хотя бы в одном фильме в Голливуде.

- Были в вашей жизни ситуации, когда приходилось идти вопреки обстоятельствам, желаниям?

- Знаешь, жизнь такая, что у всех, наверное, были ситуации, когда приходилось поступать вопреки. Я, например, снялась в некоторых фильмах вопреки собственным желаниям, потому что нужно было сниматься - были такие большие перерывы. А я соскучилась по своей профессии, по камере, по самому процессу съемок и сама себе говорила: чем ничего, так лучше это. Такие моменты бывали. Вопреки я уехала в Чехию, я не хотела, у меня не было такого желания и не было такой мечты, уехала, бросив детей, внуков. Но тем не менее я сделала так потому, что встретила замечательного человека, который совсем никакого отношения к искусству не имеет, полюбила, вышла замуж. Тяжело было, особенно в чужой стране, когда не знаешь языка, где тебя никто не узнает. Но я знаю, что когда сильно чего-то захочешь, то желания сбудутся. Я, видимо, так сильно хотела работать по профессии, что выучила язык, старалась знакомиться с людьми, через них - с теми, кто связан с искусством, меня там заметили и пригласили сниматься в кино на студии «Барандов фильм». Так я вышла на главного режиссера театра музыки и драмы, стала петь. Там я месяц с группой гастролировала и пела, на радио пела и вот так стала потихоньку творчеством заниматься. Режиссер, который меня пригласил сниматься в фильме, очень известный, предыдущий его фильм получил «Оскара», и, я надеюсь, что с нашим фильмом, даст бог, поедем на кинофестивали. Мечты сбываются, я в это верю, главное – сильно захотеть. И еще я хотела сказать… Я стала петь, записала диск, и этот диск понравился в Чехии. Так как там сейчас увлекаются фольклорной, этнической музыкой, она нравится людям разных возрастов. Теперь я хочу проехать по всей нашей республике и дать концерты…


Беседовала Дильбар БОРИСОВЕЦ.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

How many foreigners does Czech Republic host?

Foreigners in Prague (those with Czech Residence Permit);

Nationality - Total Number
--------------------------
Kyrgyz - 466
Americans - 4631
British - 3572
Azerbaijani - 249
Brasilians - 165
Chinese - 4069
Indians - 813
Italians - 2289
Japanese - 1386
Canadians - 636 (Blanka, can you see it now?!)
Kazakhs - 2993
Koreans - 604
Mexicans - 156
Kiwis - 89
Polish - 20287
Russians - 22091
Singaporeans - 21
Slovaks - 65729
Taiwanese - 190
Turkish - 911
Ukrainians - 122778
Uzbeks - 844
Vietnamese - 47131
...
---------------------
Total - 376210

full list
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Full list of low-cost airlines (Europe)

Please show the reference to my blog in any kind of usage (including copy+paste) of the below low-cost airlines list. List was compiled from various sources, and it contains only the currently operating low-cost airlines in Europe. (Please suggest if I missed any!) Low cost airlines for Americas and Asia will follow.

Hope this list will be useful for you to find cheap flight tickets!
Cheers!
----------------------------
skyeurope.com - Bratislava based (main HQ) low-cost airline. (I personally check it first before checking any other options).
From Prague to Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Birmingham, Bratislava, Brussels, Bucharest, Burgas, Catania, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, kosice, Lisbon, London, Manchester, Milan, Naples, Paris, Rome, Rimini, Thessaloniki, Split, Torino, Venice, Vienna.

easyjet.com - England based low-cost airline.
From Prague to Basel, Belfast, Bristol, Dortmund, East Midlands, Geneva, London, Milan, Newcastle.

EasyJet Switzerland (easyjet.com) - Geneva based low-cost airline. It operates scheduled services as an easyJet franchise from Geneva and Basel. Many destinations from Switzerland including Turkey and Prague.

smartwings.com - Czech Republic based low-cost airline.
From Prague to Barcelona, Budapest, Chania, Dubai(!), Heraklion, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Madrid, Mallorca, Paris, Rodes, Rome, Tenerife

clickair.com - Barcelona based low-cost airline.
From Prague only to Barcelona.

bmibaby.com - the UK’s fastest growing low-cost airline, operating services within the UK and Europe.
From Prague to UK (Birmingham, Manchester, East Midlands) only

click4sky.com - Czech Republic based new type of low-stable-cost airline which offers tickets to many destinations in Europe for 1990 CZK only! (1 Euro ~ 28 CZK) I heard that CZE is selling out its unsold tickets this way. Smart approach.

Ryanair.com - Dublin based low-cost airline.
From Prague to Dublin, daily flights.

tuifly.com - Hannover based low-cost airline.
No flights to Prague.

airberlin.com - Berlin based low-cost airline (early bookers could book everything for 29 euros). Flights to major cities in Europe plus some destinations in the Mediterranean, on the Canary Islands and in North Africa.
No flights to Prague.

condor.com - Germany based low-cost airline. Offers the especially inexpensive City Flights service from Munich to the most beautiful cities in Europe. Condor City Flights start as low as €29 one way including all surcharges.

ltu.de - Düsseldorf based low-cost airline. Main bases are Düsseldorf, Munich and Berlin Tegel airports. Cheap flights to USA and Canada. Flights to all the continents. From October 2007 flights from Berlin-Tegel to Bangkok, Melbourne, Punta Cana and Varadero.
From Prague to Toronto, Fort Myers, Miami, New York.

flymonarch.com - UK based low-cost flights from bases at London Gatwick, London Luton, Manchester and Birmingham airports. Flights to many destinations in Portugal, Spain, Canary Islands and Cyprus.
No flights from/to Prague.

firstchoice.co.uk - Uk based low-cost airline with world-wide destinations.
No flights from/to Prague.

airfinland.fi - Finland based low cost airline. Flights from Helsinki to Alicante and Malaga only.
No flights from/to Prague.

XL.com - UK based low cost airline. European and Middle Eastern leisure destinations from its three bases of London Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow.

fr.xl.com - France based airline within the group use the XL Airways branding

de.xl.com - Germany based airline within the group use the XL Airways branding

ie.xl.com - Ireland based airline within the group use the XL Airways branding

mytravellite.com - UK based low-cost airline. Flights to many destinations including Kenya.

transavia.com - Holland based low-cost airline with flights to many European cities plus Turkey and North Afirca.
No flights from/to Prague.

blue1.com - Helsinki based low-cost airline. Flights to many European cities, plus connecting flights with SAS to different destinations.
No flights from/to Prague.

airbaltic.com - Baltics based low cost airline with many destinations including Tashkent (Uzbekistan).From Prague to Kaliningrad, Vilnius, and Riga.

centralwings.com - Poland based low cost airline. Good offers for flights to Poland.
No flights from/to Prague.

germanwings.com - Cologne-Bonn based low-cost airline with flights to major cities including cities in Russia, Turkey and Scandinavia.
From Prague to Cologne-Bonn, Berlin, Zurich, London (and many other via Cologne-Bonn).

brusselsairlines.com - Brussels based airline that offers b-light low cost tickets. World-wide destinations.
From Prague to Brussels (and many other via Brussels).

vueling.com - Barcelona based low-cost airline. many destinations in Europe and the western Mediterranean. Bases are in Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, Paris and Lisbon.
No flights from/to Prague.

norwegian.no - Oslo based low cost airline. Many destinations in Europe including Tallinn, Russian and Turkish cities.
From Prague to Oslo, Bergen, Bodo, Stavanger, Tromso, Trondheim.

Jet2.com - Leeds based low-cost airline. Offers charter services as well. Great number of European destinations from UK.
From Prague to Belfast, Manchester, Leeds, and Edinburgh.



sterling.dk - Denmark based low-cost airline.
From Prague to Copenhagen and Stockholm.

wizzair.com - Poland based low-cost airline, also operates from bases in Katowice, Warsaw, Gdansk in Poland, Budapest, Sofia and Bucharest.
No flights from/to Prague.

flybaboo.com - Geneva based low-cost airline.
No flights from/to Prague.

helvetic.com - Zurich based low-cost airline.
No flights from/to Prague.

flyglobespan.com - Scotland based low-cost airline. Flights to European destinations plus US, Canada, Egypt and Cyprus.
From Prague to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

intersky.biz - Austria based low-cost airline.
No flights from/to Prague.

spanair.com - Palma de Mallorca based low-cost airline company, and a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines. Main base is Son Sant Joan Airport (PMI), with hubs at Madrid and Barcelona. Flights to Algier and Casablanca.
No flights from/to Prague.

flybe.com - UK based low-cost airline. 70% domestic UK, 20% European business and 10% European leisure destinations.
No flights from/to Prague.

meridiana.it - Olbia, Italy based low-cost airline.
From Prague to Florence and Catania.

flynordic.com - Stockholm based low-cost airline. Flights to Nordic countries (incl. Estonia) and few other European destinations.
No flights from/to Prague.

malmoaviation.se - Sweden-based low-cost airline that operates only to France, Belgium and Sweden cities.
No flights from/to Prague.

volawindjet.it - Italy based low-cost airline. Operates to Russia, Spain, Romania, Greece and other Italian cities.
No flights from/to Prague.

alpieagles.com - Italy based low-cost airline. Flights to Italian cities plus Athens, Barcelona, Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, Kiev, Moscow, Nice, Odessa, Prague, Pristina, Timisoara, Tirana and Valencia.
From Prague to Barcelona, Bari, Bologna, Napoli, Palermo, Venezia.

aerarann.com - Dublin based low-cost airline. UK, France and Ireland cities are the destinations.
No flights from/to Prague.

goldenair.se - Trollhättan, Sweden based low-cost airline that operates only to cities in Sweden and Finland.
No flights from/to Prague.

jetx.is - Iceland based low-cost airline. No booking or other pages in English.

travelservice.aero - Czech Rep based airline that provides mainly charter flights.
From Prague to Tel Aviv, Stockholm, Paris, Marseille, Budapest, Milano, Roma, Madrid, London, Dublin, Alicante, Malaga, Valencia, Bilbao, Barcelona, Las Palmas, Tenerife, Hurgada, Sharm El Sheik, Faro, Funjal, Paphos, Larnaca, Agadir, Istanbul, Antalya, Tunis, Monastir, Palma de Mallorca, Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Rhodos, Korfu, Zakinthos, Preveza, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Catania, Burgas, Varna, Olbia, Cagliari, Nantes, Nice, Toulouse, Lyon, Keflavik, Split, Tivat, Bangkok, Fortaleza, Mombasa, Zanzibar.


(Sources used while compiling this list; wikipedia.org, jvdz.net)
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

busy times

Trainings
Within past few weeks I had 2 trainings related to UML at Unicorn Education. And I have 2 more few-day-trainings within following few weeks. Our company is offering many trainings (both computer based and classroom trainings) to choose from, so it is good opportunity to take as much as possible while there's opportunity. Not all the companies give or even care about that.

Fancy glass-walled Unicorn Education building

Projects
Nowadays I am working on two projects, thus getting really busy. This is part of my "next 6-month high proactivity" plan. To put it simple; full concentration on work/trainings and learning few key skills that my position requires in the market and not even to think about new job or position somewhere else. Evaluation will be done after 6 months. Thus it quickly put me into "Busy" mode. So I've been terrible in replying to emails from friends, and even meeting up with the ones here in Prague. Some people were thinking that I even left Prague! Also, I haven't been posting here as well. Still pending stories from Vienna/Budapest, Karlstejn and Cesky Krumlov trips.
Well, after work I am staying at home in front of my computer; reading a lot of blogs, digging around different web-services, thinking of how to shape Jamboola (my experimental tech blog), and when my brain stopped functioning properly I've been watching the film series (finished Prison Break Season 1, currently watching new chinese-mongolian series "Chenghiz Khan"), or Facebooking.

Squash
We had DHL squash tournament last weekend. I asked Kamilya to come with me as well, so we had preparation game on Saturday, and we joined the tournament whole Sunday along. I never tried this game before, so it was fun to try and spend Sunday more actively. Could be an option for winter sports activity in winter when no football.

Halloween
Actually I am not excited about such things anymore, I guess everything has its own period in our life. Thus I didn't go to any of those costumes parties, and I was also very tired and sleepless recently. Yet The Park management amused us with their Halloween decoration by installing gravestones in front of our building and around The Park, baloons and Halloween booths.
We had expats Haloween Party yesterday, some of friends attended it with their costumes. I liked Jenny's costume; Facebook page (later I'll share the photo of me writing on her "Wall").

Here are just few shots taken during the lunch break.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Prague has highest concentration of dust in ČR

...Doctor and environment consultant Miroslav Suta said the smaller particles of dust, which mainly diesel engines produce, are much more dangerous to human health than the larger ones.
"The larger particles are caught in the nose, for example, but the small ones get as far as air sacs, frustrate breathing and may even cause heart and vascular diseases that are the most frequent cause of death in this country," Suta said... <read full article>

--------------------------------------
It is not as bad as in Taipei or Bangkok though. Thanks to the wide number of trams and sufficient metro network, not many buses are crowding the streets here.
As my sweetheart suggested me; "Please gargle as possible as you can when you come back from outside. It will be also effective to prevent cold, especially in this season."

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

1 year in Czechland

Exactly 1 year ago I stepped down this country after going through long-lasting visa processes. It was cool autumn evening when I reached here, and Jenny was waiting for me at the airport. The same day I arrived to trainee house in Andel, met new friends there; Taxi, Alex, Eric, Piros (with whom I shared the room for next few weeks), and had my first Prague tour and Czech gulas with Jenny.

Meeting lots of new people with some of whom we became good friends, with ups and downs in job and personal life, unsatisfaction at initial position and small promotion to new position, lots of traveling (besides most of the parts of Czech Republic I've been to Italy, Belgium, Poland, back home for winter New Year holidays after 8 years, and going to Austria and Hungary next week), learning one more language - Czech, getting more "cultured" with ballet and opera, having some great fun and playing as a goalkeeper in soccer team in DHL Football Euro Cup, becoming less hard-work-at-job oriented and more self-development oriented, still hungry for challenges and new opportunities to apply the potential I believe I possess, with not much change in dressing and hair style but some changes in thinking style, still staying awake till late hours and having some difficulty at waking up early in the morning... I spent a year here.

More to come!
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Coke and Old Town Square?!

I hate the fact that I am posting video of Coca-Cola ad. Mainly because it was taken in our good Old Town Square.

Thanks for Yajia for the link.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

random things & thoughts

Yesterday on my way back home from work I saw a totally naked guy walking into metro station. He didn't seem to be drunk or smth. Neither I could see any signs or marks on his body, not some kind of protest. And it seemed liked nobody really gave much attention to him. Was it a common thing here or noone really noticed him in the rush hour. Outside the station I saw the jacket and the jeans lying on the ground, probably his.

I dropped by to Hypernova to buy puzzle. Recent interest. My initial view of the puzzles was that they are more of educational purposes for children. It seems in fact they have several constructive and developing effects for adults as well. Start with creativity, inspirational effect and that such things could help to expand your mind beyond everyday constraints. I got one with artistic painting to be re-collected from 1000 pieces. An activity for cold grey Prague weekends.

While in Hypernova I caught the old Soviet Cartoon "Nu pogodi" being displayed on the big monitor. Something that reminded me that this place used to be part of Communist empire. Actually Russian presence is still felt strongly here; many Russian tourists around, Russian menus at the restaurants, Russian books on sale, D. Bilan songs playing loudly from some shops, "Brigada" being broadcasted on Czech TV, advertisements translated in Russian, etc.
Karlovy Vary is already known as "Russian town" among Czechs due to high population of Russian tourists and properties owned by Russians there.

Have you ever thought what sort of blogger/blog reader you are?
Well, I did. Just this visual proof tells you what sort of blogs I read and subsrbied to, and which ones I read more often. It is captured from my Google Reader window. I don't think I need to explain what the Site Feed is about, thus if you are still reading blogs/news form their original sites, then you are way behind the current trends of Internet.:) Google Reader is fantastic single source to read all the blogs and news.

It clearly shows that I spent more time digging around my friend's blogs, then come news feeds, and finally technology blog. That summarizes my failure to get steady with tech blog last time (thus I need to put more effort on Jamboola).
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Karlstejn Castle

DSC01773, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

TBA

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Lost

Weekend to remember for long time! I was invited for rafting, it turned out to be canoeing. Anyway, that was also another thing I wanted to do. Forecast for sunny weekend, with sleeping bags and clothes packed in my bags, I took early train to Hradec Kralove. Sun was promising long-awaited weekend. Once I reached the city of Hradec Kralove, I switched to another train that took me to small town of Tyniste nad Orlici. That was our start point of the ~48 km canoeing for 2 days.

I met Hanka and other "delegates", and Jiri was already there. There were 12 people, and 6 canoes. We got the canoes, and after putting all our stuff into waterproof barrels, we set for the journey. It turned out to be hell of a trip! Now sitting here and thinking back that it actually was a great activity and unforgettable trip, but it wasn't funny at all at that time when we got "lost"...

Trip started smoothly; smooth and easy flow of the water, not many barriers, practicing on the way (this is the first ever time I was doing it!). Jiri was my canoe partner, and my expectations that he has some good experience in ruling the boat turned out to be slightly wrong. So imagine two newbies trying to come up with a strategy to paddle in a harmonised way (it really requires communicated effort of both persons, great for team-bonding activity!), and not to fall far behind the others. But we did.

According to our guide, Petr, we'd stop nearby hospoda (pub) in some village for lunch. Most of the trip was through uninhabited land with some villages along the way. Once in a while, we'd stop for small breaks, snacks and some swimming. Those left behind would catch up. Apparently no pubs could be seen along the way. Having no other options we kept going forward with the hope of filling our stomachs with hot lunch soon. 2pm... 3pm...4pm... where the hell it was?! No signs of civilization around. Already tired and hungry (snacks never enough), and we'd been paddling continuosly for hours as river is slow and even dead in most part of the river. Initial funny jokes and laughters were taken over by hungry, tired looks and silence. Time to time one of the boats would overturn to spice up the situation. Three times our boat was overturned coz of small strategical mistakes, 2 times we got stuck among the branches of the collapsed trees in the river. I got minor injuries. It could have been really worse, in some ways we were even lucky to get out safe. Those barrels really proved to be waterproof, as well as the waterproof pouch I kept my mobile phone in (all photos here were taken with it). And the best way of learning is always by making mistakes first. We were quick to pick up the lessons. :))

6pm... 7 pm... 8 pm... sun set down, it's getting dark... and still no sign of the pub! By that time I was paddling with Hanka, and I could feel the difference to paddle with the person who knows how to control the boat. Otherwise me n Jiri were slowing down everyone. Especially Jiri kept finding every single reason to take a break in every 300-400 meters. :)

It was around 8:30 pm when we found the pub finally in a small town. And after checking with locals, it turned out that we'd completed 36 kms(!) that day. Imagine paddling continuosly for 10 hours in a dead river with no proper lunch and dinner! On a positive side, weather was great, nature is beautiful, fresh air, exercise for hands, lots of swimming... yet still we were stressed and tired by the time we reached the place.

After preparing the tents, we went for big dinner. Usually if I get a tough day, then it turns out to be 100% tough for me. It was too late, and pub offered us only one meal - traditional gulas with pork! I ended up eating gulas tomato sauce with lots of dumplings (here it is referred for the slices of the white bread), yet that was one of the tastiest gulas I've eaten (btw, I normally hate this gulas!). Beers, people went for Becherovkas, till midnite. Then I squeezed myself into the tent with Hanka and Petr. Immediately turned off.

The next day we only had 12 km left, so we took our time exploring the little town (or village). It had some farms with beautiful wooden houses (I'd term as Finnish style house). The next part of Orlici River till Hradec Kralove was slow as well, so it took a lot of exercise and energy to complete it. We had lunch at some ranch on the way. No major accidents, I was with Hanka. This time I sat at the back and learned to control the boat with the paddle.

We reached Hradec Kralove around 6 pm on sunday. Tough, but great weekend!

Satisfied look early at the beginning of the trip :)

Jiri ready to go

Orlici river conquerors

pauses along the way

after 1. overturn of the boat

our small camp

drying wet clothes in the morning sun

restaurant that we looked for

beautiful wooden house

joining the boats

Dominik n Hanka

suntan stripes

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

rafting enterprise

I'll be away for 2-day rafting adventure on Orlici river this weekend. Jiri, Czech buddy whom I happen to know from Turkey (he was doing his traineeship there when I just joined AIESEC), was kind to invite me for this popular summer activity in Czech Republic. For me it will be first-ever trial. And what a trial! We will be rafting for 2 days starting from Doudleby nad Orlicí till Týniště nad Orlicí on Saturday, spend the night in sleeping bags inside the tents, then continuing till Hradec Kralove on Sunday. I will not risk to take my camera with me to the river, so probably it won't be archived in pictures. Hopefully someone will have waterproof cameras. And I like the weather forecast for this weekend.

Enjoy your weekend! TGIF!

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Louny

Louny, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Slovak group "No Name"
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

24 часа с японкой

Японцы - народ умный, по технологии они шарят лучше немцов и американцев. Уникальная культура, великая история, мощняя держава... До этого в Азии несколько раз обшался с японцами, но все эти были короткие общения. Даже когда в Тайване жили с Манами вместе, редко у нас было возможности свободно пообшатся, она работала в отеле и её график работы и отдыха не совпадал с моим. Только по выходным иногда гуляли вместе с остальными друзями. Так что японцы для меня всегда были загадкой, как и сама Япония, поетому всегда было желание поехать туда и пожить некоторое время. Не буду скрывать что у меня есть огромное симпатия к Японию. Наверное и поетому хочу изучить их язык и Кендо...

На прошлые выходные я поехал в маленький городок Лоуни, час езды от Праги. Причина - музыкальный фестиваль. Итак сам хотел вырватся из Праги, так как в последние недели у меня было много гостей и не было такой возможности.

Мики, стажёрка из Японии которая работает в Лоуни, написала об этом фестивале на наш имейл-группу. Но никто кроме меня не поехал, у меня самого тоже не было желании, просто не хотел оставатся в Праге. Но рад что всё так получилось. Где-то после обеда я доехал до Лоуни, Мики встретила меня. Так я и познакомился с ней. С виду типичная японка, типичный макияж как у многих молодых японок и причёска, типичный акцент, красивые глаза (не узкие), приветливая улыбка, невысокий рост. Думал что "Мики" - это её кличка, а оказалось это популярная имя в Японии. Переводится как "Красивое дерево". Сначала был маленький тур по городу, навестили костёл и башню с видом на весь город. Типипчный чешский городок; в центре расположена старая часть города (узкие улицы, дома с красными крышами (черепица наверное), каменные дороги, церкви/костёлы, и тп.), потом до вечера сидели на площади и смотрели концерт. Играли чешские и словацкие группы. С ней мы обшались всё время, разговор шёл на разные темы; учёба, работа, стажировка, семья, Япония, Кыргызстан, Чехия..., всякие темы о чем можно поговорить при новых знакомствах.

После концерта я предложил ей поехать со мной в Прагу, у нас намечалась АЙЗЕКовская вечеринка, и она тоже хотела посмотреть на Прагу. Скоро мы уже были в Праге, переоделись и пошли на вечеринку на Андель (район в Праге). Там толпа людей уже напивались. Поздравили Юдит с днюхой. Я подарил ей венгерское вино Токайи. Вечеринку продолжили в клубе. Хотя часто хожу с нашими в клубы, но давненько так весело не проводил время в клубе и танцевал. Конечно же с Мики. Танцевали до усталости, сидели обшались, и она практически объяснила мне все детали Кендо, она занималась этим видом спорта в школе. Кендоистка, 1-ый дан.:) Вот вам и потомки самураев! Потом опять танцевали, к концу играла только медленная музыка. Она мне сказала что впервые танцует "так" с парнем. Оказывается, она конзервативная и редко ходит в клубы. Где-то после 3 ночи все поехали по домам. Мики я пригласил к нам домой. После поездки и вечеринки оба очень устали, но после душа как-то освежались, и вместе того чтоб отдыхать мы зашли в разные темы и сидели и обшались до позднего утра. Тут уже темы были более серьёзные и личные, она рассказала много чего о своей жизни, как она училась в Токио, побывала в Индии на развивательной стажировке и учила детей, как работала в разных парт-тайм работах, о личной жизни. И много чего про японцев. Японцы не очень хорошо владеют английским (те кто не учились забугром), поетому во многих случаях они просто не могут свободно пообшатся и высказаться на английском. Поетому иногда даже думаешь что они какие-то тормознутые. К тому же они даже не стараются, просто стесняются чтоб не сделать ошибку и неправильно высказатся. Ну с Мики мы уже более свободно обшались, после прогулок и танцев уже перешли изначальный барьер, и она старалась высказывать свое мнение на более глубокие и серьёзные темы с её недостаточным английским и я практически всё понимал. И она меня очень удивляла. Когда жил в юго-восточной Азии, много обшался с таиванками и сингапурками, но мало от кого я слышал такие практические и умные взгляды на вещи, и у меня сложились стереотипы про азитских девушек. Мики, на пару лет младше меня, не относится к ним, и даже оказалась молодым филозофом. Особенно мне понравилось её фраза "думай думай думай... и развивай себя" ("think think think... and develop yourself"). :) звучит как-то прикольно, но имел глубокий смысл в контексте обсуждённой темы.Вообще, оказывается что японцы получают обширное воспитание с самого детства. Семейное воспитание, сильное образование, кружки, секции спорта, и тд.

Теперь знаю как сказать "люблю тебя" на японском - "ваташи айштеру"(?). По её словам, японцы редко говорят это девушкам потому что они либо гордые или же стесняются это сказать. Еще она заметила что многие мужчины/парни чуствуют большую ответственность за безопасность своих жён/девушек, но с другой стороны ожидают все осталное от них. Самурайские обычаи. Поетому она говорит что не поехала бы путешествовать со своим парнем, так как это доставило бы ему лишнюю озабоченность за неё и он не смог бы нормально расслабится и отдохнуть. Интересное мнение.

Потом уже решили вообще не спать, итак было утро, и решили прогулятся по городу. Посетили Пражский замок, прогулялись на Карловском Мосту и по старинным улицам Праги. Она меня ещё больше удивила когда начала рассказывать про святых на Карловском мосту и различала архитектуру эпохи готики, ренесанса, барок. Был взломан мой другой стереотип про японок, то что они просто едут в известные туристические места чтоб всё посмотреть и пофотаться, но при этом не зная историческую важность этих вещей. А набрался я этих стереотипов когда я был там у них в Asia Pacific. Вдруг мы вспомнили что ровно 24 часа как познакомились и то что всё это время мы были вместе. И нам казалось что мы уже очень давно знаем друг друга. А ведь если так подумать, то по количеству часов которые мы провели вместе и безперерывно обшались, то ето уже даже нормальное ошушение. Ведь среди остальных друзей в Праге мало с кем я обшался наедине так долго если даже собрать вместе сумму проведённых с ними наедине часов.
Встретились с другими стажёрами, а Мики встретилась со своей коллегой. Позже опять встретились на Злуте Лажне, играли в волейбол, и Мики уехала обратно в свой город.

Почти каждый день я встречаюсь с людьми, обшаюсь с многочисленными друзями здесь, но почему-то мне захотелось написать именно о Мики.

p.s. неа, я не влюбился.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

taiwanese tribute to czechs

P1210034, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

I would never think that one day this photo would attract my attention. Need to upload all pix from Taiwan to Flickr before free Pro account term will be over.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Prague - Praha - Prag (city review)

Statue of St.Vaclav (Wencesclas) and Muzeum in the background, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

So far I haven't wrote much about Prague itself. I mean, while living in this city, I need to show some kind of tribute to it. I haven't explored it fully yet as well, but only those touristic spots, bars and clubs (surprisingly even if I don't drink, I've been to so many bars n clubs here), some restaurants and riverside. Current conclusion is that there's nothing much about Prague that would let me call it as "a special city". Yet up to this day I still get amazed by the beauty of the medieval buildings and architecture at all, and that makes it pleasant activity to wander around Prague streets. But that's just the old part of the city (Old Town - Stare Mesto). The newer parts more remind communism with the grey ugly panel blocks.

For some Prague is the city of their dreams (due ot popular tourist misinformation or exaggerated preassumptions about it), for some it is just cheap weekend destination (like the Brits coming for bachelor or hen parties), for some it is weekend quick money activity (gypsies or Czechs robbing these Brits or other tourists), for some it is the city of cheap yet good beer, for some it is about the beauty of the medieval architecture, castles, statues and history, for some it is another "should go on a tour visit and take lots of pictures" destination (like japanese/korean tourists), for some it is already the home (like yours truly).

Public transportation. This is one thing I love Prague for. Excellent system! Metro, trams, buses, night trams. Up to minute detailed schedules, and it is on time! Good connection network, and if you live in the central area, then Prague is a pleasure to live and enjoy the central part of the city. I have 3 trams passing in front of my house, so it is easily reachable 24 hours a day. Also, there are no ticket check points on the buses, trams or at the metro entrances. Just some seldom and random checks by the "guys in dark blue jakcets". Usually you can take your chance for free rides, and if you get caught then you pay 500 Kc fine. They only accept cash.:) I was caught once (not that I don't have monthly passes), but pretending like stupid tourist saved me 500 Kc. For some people it didn't work.

Sightseeing. I can bet that I can show around the main tourist sights to people in 1 day. It is that small. Just the Old Town, Castle, Charles Bridge, Vysehrad hill and maybe some museums. It is ideal to come to Prague for 3-day visit. You can see the main sights and enjoy walking in Old town streets. Although there's this beautiful museum building at the end of the Wencesclas Square, but what I heard that inside there's nothing much to see other than some archelogical stuff, rocks, stones, etc. Charles Bridge is said to be nice to see in early mornings, otherwise it is packed with tourists during the day. I am planning to take photos of all statues of the saints of the bridge one day, more detailed story about the Charles Bridge will come along.

Customer service. #1 culture shock for any visitor. It s-u-c-k-s! Even my friends from Kyrgyzstan, Tolkun n Mirsulzhan, noticed the rudeness of the waiters in the first days of their stay here. Basicly, whole idea is that the waiters think that they are doing a favor by serving your food or drink. I hardly remember any restaurant where the customer service was above average (besides those restaurants run by foreigners). Few times we were scolded for asking why noone is taking orders for 20 minutes, many times our order was forgotten, it usually takes long to get your food, and it make take longer to queue up to pay your bill. And of coz you get frustrated when some of the waiters expect a tip from you after such a service!

PDA. Not Personal Digital Assistent gadgets. Public Display of Affection. In the streets, in the parks, on the public transportation, basicly everywhere you can see many couples hugging and kissing, and sometimes almost making out. And no reaction from the public, seems like to be normal behaviour. Believe me, I feel very uncomfortable and even shy if it is happening in front of me. Especially, it is trendy for the couples to share the seat on the tram, girl sitting on the laps of the guy or vice versa. Czechs are the atheistic society, so that may be the reason for the lack of strict public norms.

Also, there are too many homeless people and beggers in the streets. Some use park or bus stop benches to sleep, some use night trams to spend the night in colder weather. Usually the drivers wake them up at the last stop, then they switch to another returning tram and continue their sleep.

Begging for money, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Obicni Dum, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Side streets of Prague (reminds me the Bridge of Sighs in Venice), originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

McDonalds on Na Prikope (not that I love McD much), originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Bricks, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC01317, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Waste of money, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

View of the Vaclavske Namesti (Wencesclas Square) from Muzeum, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Muzeum, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Statue of St.Wencesclas on his horse, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

St.Vaclav sitting on his dead horse in Lucerna, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Tram cafe, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC01270, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC01261, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC01258, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Vltava, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Tulips of Wencesclas Square, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Housewarming party

I feel "warmer" now after the housewarming party. Especially my room was "smelling like people", my bed survived the weight of dozens lying on it, and kitchen was full of bottles. It was a great evening with friends from AIESEC trainee community, work and personal friends. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Although the day started with cleaning, shopping at Tesco and running with shopping bags in the heavy rain, it continued with another housewarming+birthday party and BBQ at Stas & Gina's place. Basicly it was 2 housewarmings and 4 birthdays celebrations yesterday. July is a big month! Then we rushed back home to meet our already punctual guests. Cool bunch of people, good mood, plenty of drinks and snacks, music playing loud till 2 a.m. (every minute I was expecting a knock on the door by the neighbours, but it never came! Either they tolerated us well, or weren't present at home. It may even be that flats under and above us are empty or the offices). The evening ended at the Retro Club.

Click for more photos and short video.

I didn't want to post this one, but thanks for messing up my room and remining it here, Jenski! ;)

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

lazy weekends

what tires you more? physical exhaustness or mental busyness?

I've been "getting horizontal" (Copyright 2007 - Fang) for past 2 weekends. Sleeping till the afternoon until my head starts buzzing as if protesting this lazyness. Then I wake up, go to bathroom. After refreshing myself, my next stop is the kitchen. I open the fridge, boil some water to make a coffee and get some milk to add to. After thorough search of what to eat, I just decide on smashing the eggs on the pot, either with tomatoes or potatoes. Easy, practical, quick, though not the healthiest option. I play music loud to totally wake myself up or just to tune up my weekend days. Weekends've been sunny, whole city ran to parks and riverside for sunbathing. Swimming pools should have been overcrowded. Outside is hot, so as if to totally kill the rest of the day, I switch back to watching favourite Turkish mafia series. Actually I finished it, all 97 series! Previous weekend started with meeting up some bloggers (Tolkun, Mirsulzhan, Asel') from Central Asia who were in Prague for week of trainings. What made my day was the gift from an already special blogger-friend. To whom it may concern; you are gorgeous!

That lazy weekend ended with some bone stretching beach volleyball game on the beach. For those in Prague, Zlute Lazne is the great place to spend the summer weekends (it used to be nudist beach previously); chill out on the riverside grass pitches, enjoy some beach volleyball or football, bars and restaurants around, some even try to swim in Vltava's dirty waters, otherwise there's swimming pool on the other side of the road. You can take tram 3, 16, 17, 21 and get out at Dvorce stop.

Past weekend was planned to be an active one, yet on Friday eve I went to airport to meet Lisheng, ex-flatmate from Singapore who came for AIESEC traineeship in Brno. Her flight from London was delayed due to heavy rain, so it reached Prague in 1 am! It turned out that I was not the only one waiting for her, another trainee Aaron (an Asian with several different nationalities) was there as well. By the time we reached home, and went out for food and back, it was 6 am when I went to bed. Saturday sleep till afternoon guaranteed! Saturday evening they toured Prague, and I joined for late drinks, then we went down to the island (yes, Prague even has islands!) to watch "Little Miss Sunshine "in the open-air cinema. Another late exploration; summer open-air cinema on the island in the center of Prague! Finally on Sunday I could go to Ikea to buy missing parts for my room. Housewarming party is scheduled for the next week.

Next weekend should be the healthy one; I am planning to hire a boat for a tour on the Vltava river, and maybe go for swimming pool. Seems like I will miss the canyoning trip in Austria due to this visa issue. In August, I'm planning to go up to Estonia to visit old good friend - Triin.

Beautiful evening in last weekend

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

to je Škoda

Czech word "Škoda" stands for the word "pity" in English. Yet the most known Czech automobile brand was named so. How come? Quick search gave me this;

- The origins of Škoda go back to the early 1890s
- the company started out with the manufacture of bicycles
- Vaclav Klement and Václav Laurin opened bicycle repair shop in 1895 in Mladá Boleslav
- Laurin & Klement's first motorcyclette (which was powered by an engine mounted on the handlebars driving the front wheels) proved dangerous and unreliable
- The pair's new Slavia motorcycle made its debut in 1899
- In 1899 it added motorcycles and in 1905 cars
- it merged with Škoda Works, the biggest industrial enterprise in Czechoslovakia
- later production was under the Škoda name
- After a decline during the economic depression, Škoda was again successful with models such as the Popular in the late 1930s.
- During the World War II Occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Škoda works served the German World War II effort
- In the autumn of 1945, it became part of the planned economy, which meant it was separated from the parent Škoda company
- In spite of unfavourable political conditions and losing contact with technical development in non communist countries, Škoda retained a good reputation until the 1960s, producing models such as the Škoda 440 Spartak, 445 Octavia, Felicia and Škoda 1000 MB. Škoda has always been known internationally for building very tough and reliable cars
- In the late 1980s Škoda was still manufacturing cars conceptually from the 1960s.
- Sport versions such as "Rapid" were available. The Rapid was once described as the 'poor man's Porsche' and had significant sales success in the UK during the 1980s
- The turning point came in 1987 with the Favorit model. The Favorit's appearance was designed by Italian design company Bertone
- The Velvet Revolution brought great changes to both the politics and economy of Czechoslovakia, and most industries were subject to privatization. In the case of Škoda automobile the government decided to bring in a strong foreign partner. Volkswagen was chosen in 1990 and in April, 1991, Škoda become the fourth brand of the Volkswagen Group
- Backed by VW know-how and investments the design — both style and engineering — has improved greatly
- The 1996 model Felicia was still based on the floor plan of the Favorit, but quality improvements helped and in the Czech Republic the car was as popular as it was value for money. The subsequent models Octavia and Fabia finally made their way to the demanding EU markets.
- By 2005, Škoda was selling over 30,000 units per year in the UK which amounted to a market share of over 1%.
- In 2006, Škoda presented its brand new model Roomster, which is a small van with a unique design, which reflects future trends. At the end of December 2006, Škoda also released the first official pictures of the new Fabia, a model that will replace Fabia in 2007
- A new concept car was presented at the Paris Auto Show in September 2006. The concept was called Joyster and it is a three-door compact car intended especially for young people
- In 2005 the company produced 494 637 vehicles
- By the end of 2006, over 550 thousand vehicles had been produced


Nowadays you can still see those old Skodas in the streets of Prague. I caught the shot below, indeed that's a "pity"!


Modern Skodas caught up with other car brands, yet ridicilously expensive! What a "pity"!

p.s.; we will see it (Skoda Fabia) in action in this week's Poland trip

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

iChange

Effective from June.

New position, new department - something that I've been looking forward to, now let's talk about challenge and motivation, time to polish old technical skills. This time I am more confident that this is the correct step in a so-called career path, and more prospects visible from there. That could stick me to Prague for couple of years. Hopefully I will get the project related to integration of our DHL ITS Europe systems with those in IT Center in Bonn, then I will be visiting Germany more often. Which means that I'd get long-term Schengen visa! That would make my weekends more interesting and busy again.

New home - finally moved to the new flat in one of the central areas of Prague (Vrsovicke Namesti, close to Namesti Miru). I'll be paying rent twice more expensive than for the one in Hostivar, but what comes in package worth it; old-style building in the center, fully furnished flat with spacy bedrooms, living room and big kitchen, tram stops in front of the house, shops, pubs and restaurants around, close to where most of my friends live. And it's Moskevska street! Will be sharing it with Blandine (colleague, France) and Linda( AIESEC friend, Netherlands). We have 2 couches in the living room, so book your place in advance if you are planning to visit Prague ;). I will need to buy some curtains for my room, need someone to go shopping with. Ladies? :) I will have internet connection at home finally. Internet is my power and my weakness.

New haircut - Ok, this is not about the new haircut saga of symbolizing the beginning of new chapter in my life, just that I felt like growing it a bit longer. Should be more noticeable in following weeks. Btw, for the foreigners in Prague who have some trouble in finding skillful and English-speaking hairdressers, I can recommend Chang (Korean guy) at Modry Slon. It is more expensive, but worths it.

New targets - So I will stay in Czech Republic for couple of years. Once I settled with this thought, it will be easier to concentrate on how to spend this time in a best way. First comes career planning. In the resource center, I will have the environment and projects that will put me into progress. Plenty of online courses still pending for my attention. In a long-term, I put as a goal to achieve wider understanding and knowledge in all the phases of software development cycle. And as well as understanding business side of the project.
In terms of social life, I have already planned few trips in upcoming months, one possible trip to either Switzerland or Poland in July. If I get long-term visa, then Vienna, Berlin, Munich is on the beginning of the list. Besides that still many places to see in Czech Rep. I've read of possible bike trips to Karlstejn Castle which I am intending to do sometime soon.
Also this puts me back into getting more involved with Czech language. I even bothered myself to buy a book "New Czech Step by Step" by Lida Hola, this one is suggested as the most useful book. Then I want be complete my attempt to learn Hiragana and Katakana alphabets, so far I did some of it, and actually it is more fun than boring.

Hands up for more new changes!
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Prague Marathon 2007

It never crossed my mind that I'd be running in a marathon crowd with a number sticked on my chest. But I did run. I knew few friends doing it on regular occasion, so that could probably have inspired me. Though it was an 8-km run, not the real half(~21 km) or full marathon (~42km). Also, some of our football teammates decided to complete it as fitness preparation for the upcoming tournament, but I ended up running with Grace, chinese trainee here, the guys were long gone with the crowd when we reached The Start at Vaclavske Namesti (Wencesclas Square). We gave late start, I had to leave Grace behind after Charles Bridge as I wanted to catch up with the guys (we had internal deal, the last person would buy bear for everyone :)). Cool thing was the marathon atmosphere, people cheering and supporting you along the way with applauds and smiles, what else the runner needs?! It is one of the international marathons organized every year. It makes me think of running a half-marathon next year, but it will require good preparation. I felt my legs screaming on the 2. kilometer already, then I just kept swinging front my legs to keep with the inertia of my body. That's why marathon runners think about smth else when they run, I think iPod shuffle with wrist band could have been very useful.

Well, I didn't check the time, but roughly speaking I made it in smth like 40-45 minutes.

After the run, there was music show at the Finish place - Staromestka(Old Town Square). Live performances, some African and Brazilian dances, etc.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Banking in Czech Republic

There's general complaint in banking service as well (as concept of good customer service is not fully evolved yet). My own so far experience is with KB (Komercni Banka) who provides my salary with 2-day delay, and you can withdraw cash from ATMs with no charges only 3 times a month, for more withdrawals you will be charged. Also you are charged a lot if you use other banks' ATMs. Also, I heard that cancellation fees are huge, now I am thinking how to get rid of this account without paying those charges.
On expats.cz there's informative article about banks in CZ. Not much good news though. Yet it will give you some ideas about banks here.

Besides, I use Western Union time-to-time for money transfers, and here Post Offices provide this service. My every attempt ends with some frustration; unfriendly staff, usually old people, not well-informed about WU service itself.

I think this customer service stories in Czech Republic will never end...
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Pálení čarodějnic ("The Burning of the Witches")

30th of April. According to my colleagues, this celebration comes from the days of Pagan religions. They used to celebrate the spring by burning all "dead", meaning that saying goodbye to old and dead things, and welcoming the spring, the start of "life".
During the early days of Christianity, women who came with some kind of conflict with the church, or the so-called "witches", were burnt in a fire on this day.

Or here is what Prague.tv says; On the night of April 30th, in one of the country's more colorful traditions, many Czechs gather round hillside bonfires for Pálení čarodějnic (The Burning of the Witches, or Witches' Night).
To keep witches at bay, people traditionally burn their old brooms.
In what's probably a fertility rite, young couples leap the bonfire's dying embers together, while single men leave freshly cut branches on the doorsteps of the woman they love.
Many Czechs argue that the celebration dates back to the Iron Age, when Bohemia and Moravia were occupied by Celts. The festival, according to this theory, is descended from Beltane, a traditional holiday still celebrated in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, though the evidence for this is rather thin.
The Czech festival's name, on the other hand, probably refers to 16th- and 17th-century witch trials, during which several hundred women were burnt at the stake.

Today, it is just another reason for partying. Last night, inside Hostivar forest near to where I live, on the beach of the Hostivar lake (or dam) there was a big party. I had no party mood, yet I still wanted to catch how actually they do "the burning" thing. I needed to cross the forest, and ended up on the other side of the lake. And this side of the lake was also full of spectators enjoying the nice spring evening and music... Nice evening, nice music, and the symmetrical view of the fire and party place reflecting on the lake...

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Онегин / Onegin

Пошли приветы, поздравленья;
Татьяна всех благодарит.
Когда же дело до Евгенья
Дошло, то девы томный вид,
Ее смущение, усталость
В его душе родили жалость:
Он молча поклонился ей,
Но как-то взор его очей
Был чудно нежен. Оттого ли,
Что он и вправду тронут был,
Иль он, кокетствуя, шалил,
Невольно ль иль из доброй воли,
Но взор сей нежность изъявил:
Он сердце Тани оживил.
("Евгений Онегин" А.С. Пушкин)
-----------------------

Не думал что балет мне понравится. Получил огромное удовольствие. "Онегинa" проходили в школе, особо даже не увлекался стихами в то время. Интересно, хочется ещё что-то новое посмотреть, например балет "Лебединое озеро". До этого в Народном Театре смотрел оперу, было скучно. Если кто-нибудь заедет в Прагу на пару дней, то советую побывать в Народном Театре (Narodni Divadlo).

Balet "Onegin" was a sensation for me! I have been thinking the balet as yet another boring stuff for oldies to entertain themselves or just some kind of high-class society activity. It turned out to be relaxing and enjoyable show, and I definitely look forward to catching more shows in National theatre. "Swan Lake", "Romeo and Juliet" are on the list.

For those interested, check this out!

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Чешские фамилии

У чехов славянские корни, поетому можно встретить множество похожих слов с русскими словами. Но иногда это схожество обретает смешные значения. К примеру, слово "Позор" (на чешком это значит "Внимание"). Везде можно увидеть вывески с этим словом "Pozor!... "
Но самое прикольное это некоторые чешские фамилии. Не стоит комментировать, вот вам несколько примеров;
Поспишил, Нечесал, Веселый, Доскочил, Свобода, Покорный, Черный, Мартышек, Жаба, Стояспал, НасралВХрнец, Долежал, Кремль, Кубик, Прибыл, Сыровый, Немец, и тд. :)))))
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Fyodor in Praha

Few weeks back, old good friend Fyodor came to Prague for IT Underground conference. He is already known personality in IT security field, speaker in varios conferences, enigmatic type. His first question about Prague was "if there are any graffiti spots here", there you go! Imagine some IT geek with metallic hippy outfit and piercings, good in graffiti drawing and traditional Chinese water color painting, speaks good Chinese, can play on guitar and creates electronic music, originally from Bishkek and now works in Taiwan - you get Fyodor. (Все, брат, буду ПРить тебя по полной программе ;))

He stayed over in my place. Although we didn't manage to hang out more beside the evenings, it was good to see old friend, listen to his crazy and clever opinions and views. He did big favor by bringing the rest of my luggage from Taiwan. Also, I got to know another taiwanese working in Prague - Alberto.

1- Graffiti in Skalka metro station. 2- Dining table at my place

More Prague photos by Fyodor here.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Weekends in Prague

Usually one of the 2 days I spent relaxing and reading at home if not travelling somewhere. 2007 started well and promises to be rich in completed books. Now I already have 5 books waiting in a queue; from Murakami to History of Rome Emperor Claudius, and currently I am listing last pages of Singapore Story by Lew Kuan Yew. I got more respect for this geniune politician, and in this book he tells more about chaotic days of Singapore in its early days before sovereignity. I look forward to find the 2. part of this story of singapore by him ("Singaporean friends, anyone who could help with this?!").

Then I had some walks around Prague in weekends. One of it was the walk in Vysehrad with Olya. It was cold and windy then, I guess it is much more attractive now. There is a great view of the river and some parts of the city from the Vysehrad hill.



Then past month we celebrated few birthdays, it is becoming a trend for parties here. I couldn't join all, but just to list the "guilty ones"; Blanka, Alex, Pauline, Emi, Adi, etc. Celebration package is similar; dinner, drinks, get drunk, then to some bar or club. Till 3-4 am. Then Aibek travelling 45 minute by tram all the way to Hostivar... anyways good news is that we found a new flat close to Namesti Miru! Great flat, fully furnished, internet and cable TV, big bedrooms with big beds, huge kitchen, and french flatmate who turned out to be my colleague from DHL. From June I will say farewell to long weekend night journeys.


Adi's bday


Stas with "Greece" T-shirt!! :)))

Past weekend, I got a chance to watch Czech National Ice Hockey team game against Finland in Sazka Arena! That was the top quality display! Great teams in a great venue. Alex, dude, you missed a big(!) game, blame Blanka for organizing her birthday dinner that day! ;)) Game ended with 2:0 victory by Czechs. "Češí... Češí... Češí..." ("Czechs...Czechs...Czechs...") were the supporters chants, and of course "My hcheme gol!" ("We want a goal!"). Before I watched Slavia Prague's 7-1 trash of some small team and the derby between Slavia and Sparta (3:3, but 7:6 after penalties for Slavia). Really, hockey is #1 sport here.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Nooruz 07

Nooruz is a spring holiday for Turkic people, and some say it is our New Year's day!

This year we had a Kyrgyz gathering in Prague. There is a small Kyrgyz community here. Mostly students and those who work for Radio Free Europe and their families. Also, there's is unknown count of illegal workers from Kyrgyzstan. As it was a national holiday, all were invited. Good organization, yet bad punctuality. Picnic spot was close to Prague, at the countryside, in some kind of mini tennis resort. Food, music, speeches... usual procedure. Early windy March, so soon people moved into small hut. In overall, nice day out with own people.

Конечно, конец был классический - две пьяной толпы гастарбайтеров накинулись друг на друга, свои кыргызы били своих. Обидно... за обоих. Но люди уже взрослые, сами должны понимать, видно ещё не научились цивильно отдыхать. Людям настроение испортили, стыдно было перед чешскими и казахскыми гостями. Потом зря всех посадили на один автобус. Эхх.... А организаторам зачёт! Хорошо всё организовали. Только вот зря притащили столько алкоголи, надо было все в меру держать.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

east wind blows me away again...

Kendo seems to be like my new passion in near future. I had a hidden admire for Samurais and their way of living. The way they treat their swords. The way they created their own wisdom and lifestyle from this fighting spirit. And that admiration always put Japan in the list of countries that I always wanted to go and see, and maybe live for some time. Thus recently when I was looking for some Japanese courses in Prague, I came through the website of Czech Kendo Federation. I was surprised to see that there are few Kendo schools here, and suddenly I thought why not to try this as well. I already had short-term experiences with Okinawa-te and Taek-Won-Do, and I was always interested in practicing martial arts.
Recently, I caucht an opportunity to watch Czech Kendo Championship live in Hradec Kralove. The battles were interesting, although quality of Kendo practiotioners seems to be way below of those Asians (Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese are the best Kendo).
But it didn't discourage me from willing to join one of the Kendo schools here. I am planning to start in June after our football tournament in Belgium. It would be great feeling to get into those shinai (bamboo-sword) battles!

Here's a short view from the final of the championship;

And about Japanese courses; I started to learn Katakana and Hiragana, and met a friendly japanese girl who agreed to help me with it.


Some view from the battles.

Views from Hradec Kralove.

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Random shots from mobile phone (slide.com)

This online tool on www.slide.com looks really cool to share photos as a slideshow. Tested on my photos from mobile phone;

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

last Saturday

It has been some time since I had my last "AIESEC" hang out. On Saturday, Piros's International Evening party for Praha LC and trainees came into realization, and it was a total blast. Food was fantastic, especially chicken breasts, and I contributed with my classical "fried eggplants in egg with fresh tomatoes" :). And that made some believe that I knowing cooking very well :))). Should learn more of such dishes to get on well on such occasions. Shows and dances took the party to higher levels. Happy faces after all;


+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Unfriendliness in Czech Republic?!

That was the complaint I kept hearing from most of the foreigners since the beginning. I just thought it has been exaggerated all the time. But, to be fairly honest, in many occassions I experienced it myself. Especially the bus/tram drivers, supermarket sales people, post office staff, or to generalize, the blue color people working in civil institutions, were the ones that left really bad impression about friendliness here. It is hard to say the same about young people though. They are modern, helpful, and friendly most of the time. It's more of older generation. And among them there are some old f*rts who can really frustrate you with their mean, unfriendly and irritating attitude. And if you speak Russian with them, then you will get even worse treatment. :)) Fyodor was here last week, and he already experienced it on few occasions.
Seems like some people are still with Communism era mindset here. And that clearly reflects on the understanding of the quality of customer service in restaurants, shops, etc.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

DHL Kick-Off Party

Was it either compensation for the cancelled annual Christmas Party by DHL, or some other reasons, but it was another great parties of my life in a fantastic atmosphere of 20ies and 30ies. People dressed up like as they used to do 80-90 years ago, and it was hard to recognize the colleagues that you see everyday. I was not expecting people to give much effort to dress, but it turned up that they did. The venue was fantastic - Obicni Dum (Municipal House). Not mentioning the food (especially roasted beef) and drinks whole evening with pretty waitresses serving around the food. That is one good treat from DHL to its employees this year. At least it should have done it during Christmas, but better late than never.


The party was held at the Obichni Dum, historical symphony music and opera house building, one of the attractions of Prague.


It started with some 20ies-30ies music, ended up with 80ies and 90ies music.


Theme for the evening; 20ies & 30ies dress and music


When I was a kid, I used to dream imagining myself as the captain of the pirates, at least it came true for a moment of flash :).


Leila, Kazakh colleague


Byt nebo nebyt - to je otazka!


Municipal House in Prague (taken from www.contipromotor.cz)
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Ilya & Alice Bday

This is the community that met me and other AIESEC related people with open arms when I came to Prague, since then I've been hanging out with these people mostly. Actually moving out from Andel to Hostivar put me more in isolated situation, yet it is still fun to meet up with this crazy group time to time.
In January it was Ilya's and Alice's BDay Party in one of the pubs. The theme "dress as unusual". I realize my blog is turning into more picture blog than weblogs, but anyway picture tells you more about the story;
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Michal in Prague

Old good friend Michal, tall blond Slovak with glasses and always smiling, one of the Mafiosi, coolest and funnest(?) ever gang, I have been part of. Last time we saw each other was in Singapore almost 2 years ago.
And as he is not bothered to update his blog himself, here's piece of news about him; Michal is back in Slovakia, and after his graduation he started his own company with friends and now working there.
So be the Force with you, buddy!!! ;))


On the hill nearby Vltava River.


We spent day walking around and chatting. This view is from the top of the hill.


View of the Cechuv Most (Bridge).
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Christmas time in Prague!

You really feel what is Christmas about only in Europe! And even I just had a glance of it weeks before only, atmosphere was already there. Hopefully next year, I can catch it here. Pix;

+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Czechs lead Europe in divorces

What gets attention of any visitor to Prague is the number of people that go to the churches. So many of them, the churches, but very rarely full with people. Lack of religion brings with itself less conservatism, PDA (public display of affection) is the another example of it here. Another affected issue is a family in this case. I found this article today in Prague Post;

Eurostat: Czechs lead Europe in divorces

Changes in society fuel the failure of every second marriage in ČR
The Prague PostJanuary 17th, 2007.
When Irena Kalinová got married for the first time, in 1994, she was only 20 years old. Four years later, she got divorced in a mere 10 minutes.
It's a typical story in the Czech Republic, which boasts Europe's highest divorce rate, according to new numbers from Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office. Nearly half of all Czech marriages end in divorce.
Full story here.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

My 2nd month in Prague

New home
I moved into new place in Hostivar (another end district of Prague), calm and peaceful area, looks similar to our micro-districts in KG with typical Soviet-style panel block flats. Renting a room from Czech family, so far neither of us troubling each other, and so far I am glad with it. Major drawback is that it is a bit far from city centrum.

Work
I had some busy time still learning my work, at the same time it is non of difficulty, just loads of things to do. Although my expectations from the job and the company were different, I still see some possible career/knowledge/professional development route here, possibility of trainings and courses, and understanding core knowledge of IT systems in DHL. I will plan more organized work and course schedule for better development in 2007. I want to be more involved in bringing some new aspects to the way we do our work, also to keep programming knowledge fresh, I will need to involve myself into some programming/coding tasks. Main target for 2007 is to dive deeper into the world of Computer and Information Security.

Karlovy Vary
We had some trips, first it was to Karlovy Vary, as Czechs say it is Russian town in their land :). Touristic spot, full of Russians, and majority of real estate, as they say, is also owned by them. Btw, 007 - Casino Royale was pictured there as well. It is a spa town, usually popular among elderly people, and for its cheaper resorts. What I liked there was its picteristique view, nice place to spend a relaxing weekend with your girlfriend. I put some pictures provided from Murat and Piroska.


Prague gang on the tower on the hill above the town.


Lost in the woods...


(Click to enlarge) Superb view of the town, all credits for Murat.


Beautifull buildings along the street totally rock!


I know, silly one... :)


united colors of karlovy vary, thanks to digital photo techniques and Murat's camera ;)

Kotna Hora
Next destination was Kutna Hora, it used to be rich town with silver mines. It has silver mine tunnels for visitors, beautiful St. Barbara's cathedral and a famous Sedlec Ossuary . It contains approximately 40,000 human skeletons that are arranged and designed to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel like Bone pyramids, the chandelier, The Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms, etc. Pictures (credits to Alexandre);


Visitors need to wear these miner coats (looks more like KuKluxKlan outfit). Before going down the ground.


The Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms made from the bones and Jacobo (one day he will look similar to those bones :))) )


Bone pyramid, there are 4 of them.

St.Nicolas Day
Angels and demons... and St.Nicolas in their company... all over the city... chasing the kids... or posing in front of cameras :))) It is one of the holidays celebrated here and in other Christian nations. What was interesting that Santa Claus originated from St.Nicolas. But St. Nicolas dressed white, whereas Santa Clause in red coat, and it was due to Coca-Cola! :)) I am waiting for Murat and Cedric to send me the photos, that's how it is when you don't have your own (why did I sell it?!!)

Christmas mood in Prague
Already the city is decorated for Christmas, of course, shop owners are putting the best effort.
Big Christmas tree is put in the middle of Namesti Staromestska (Old Town Square). I have Christmas tree lighting up vide in my mobile phone only, but it was nothing much fancy. Well, Christmas time has different atmosphere in Prague, pity that I will be at home and miss it this year. Photos later.

DHL Football
Got elected into company team for DHL Euro Cup in Belgium in May. Besides we joined tournament Ballet Cup VII last weekend, lost 3, won 2, and drew 1 game. Playing as a keeper, of course. Need to practice more this winter with indoor games. I realized that we have few high management guys in the team, actually I was shouting at and commanding them during the game last time :))). I like it because it is a good way to sit and have a talk with these managers on work or other topics without any formalities and get to know them closer. As a team we need to do more and get much better if we aim to make it for play-offs in May.

Ice hockey game Recently, I had a chance to see my first-ever hockey game, it is much more fun than on TV, and counting that Czechs are one of the best in the world and Slavia Praha is one of 2 best teams here, game was terrific - goals (Slavia thrashed its opponent - 8:1), fights, saves, etc. Next is the Sparta Praha's game. Sazka Arena is amazing!

Jiri
I met old friend here. I totally forgot that in 2004 I met Czech trainee in Turkey, at Turquoise-2004 AIESEC conference. We were in touch for some time. Then forgotten. But I was sending email about my contact info update to all emails in my address book, and got reply from him! Funny thing was that we were both working in The Park, in neigbouring buildings!


Books
As I was still waiting for my laptop from the company (I sold my ibm thinkpad just before coming here) and having no TV in my room, I gained back my reading habit and have been using any possible free time to dive into the books. I tried Murakami's "Kafka on the shore" first of all, as I said, it was different mythical story combined with fluent things happening in the story, its English was a bit heavy for me (I am more fluent with technical related books) and I think there were more things to absorb from his book, planning to read some of his other books to understand Murakami more.
Then it was "Angels & Demons" by D.Brown, no need to mention about it. "Deception point" is the next in the queue.
I truly enjoyed reading "the Google Story", inspiring book.
At the moment, started reading "World is flat" by Thomas Friedman. I mentioned about this and other books earlier, it is one of those books that big IT dudes read.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Kiwi in the town

Ken. Kiwi working in Hong-Kong, have heard about him from some friends before and seen his photo here and there in their albums. He was here last week, and we had fun hosting him here! Well, in fact, I couldn't contribute much to the activity of "hosting" :). We went to see film "Borat" (that's totally different topic! Dirty, nasty, gross,... but hell funny as well! Yet, sorry for Kazakh brother nation being the target of dirty jokes, well, we should see it not more than a humour), had shisha+tea evening, Friday nite in a bar where he tried hard to bring the Spanish girl to me who, according to him, was checking me out, and beer drinking bet with Jenny (I had it all on my camera), fun Saturday brunch, city walk and Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Old Town Square (disappointment of waiting something for "wow!" and ending up with "uh?! that's it?!" ), and finally kicking him out of the flat at 4 am in the morning! Sunday was as rich as Saturday, we continued without Ken; nice sleep, open-bufet lunch in Thai restaurant and then Russel Peters show on the computer! This guy is damn funny, especially the part about bargaining with Chinese killed me! :))) "Hey! Be a man!" :)))) )

Ken, was nice to meet you buddy! Na zdravye!
I will add photo of us if it will be provided.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

Central Asian music in Prague

The Tshiltans. That's how this group is called. Berlin-based and formed by mostly Germans, 2 German Turks and Tadhjik guy members, it is a group of academics who also dedicate some of their time exploring Central Asian countries, playing their music and singing their songs.
Thanks to Janyl, I had an opportunity to attend a small gathering with them in a friendly environment in one of the restaurants in Prague. What impressed me most that they spoke well in Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Uzbek, Russian, etc. And there was some nice performances as well.
Their web-site contains some mp3 files and short videos as well.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

First month in Prague.

Happiness: above average.

Money: tight budget, almost running out of them, salary next week!

Weather: Getting colder and colder, it will be snowy winter for me after 2 years. It snowed last Friday.

Prague: Beautiful city, picteristique old architecture, not expensive cost of life, very good transportation system, trams, Vltava river, Charles bridge (will have more posts about it), castle+cathedral, etc.

Czechs: First impression is that they are cold and unfriendly towards foreigners, yet not all of them. But there's general complaint from foreigners about it. So there's piece of truth. I have experienced some as well, yet I met very friendly and social Czechs too. Lucky that I work for multinational company, and have been living with AIESEC trainees in famous trainee house in Andel. Credits to Jenny and other tenants-trainees. Czech girls: People were right by saying that Czech girls are very beautiful! I totally agree. It is hard not to notice so many pretty girls/women around. Miss World 2006 approves they can be top as well. Yet my fav ones have been Asians ;).

Language: Due to my Russian, I can understand 20-25% of written Czech, yet almost nothing in spoken Czech. looking forward to some lessons.

Food: Nothing promising, a lot of potatoes, cheese, meat. What is referred as "dumplings" is a piece of bread. I liked Smazheny syr (fried cheese, shown in the photo) though. It is possible to find chinese and other cuisines, but mostly seems to be accustomised according to Czechs taste. Put food aside, service in restaurants and cafes is not the best, sometimes be ready for impolite attitude from waitresses. But what attracts people here is beer, as I heard from many, it is better of quality, and for sure price is very low, it is even cheaper than coke! I tried some non-alcoholic beers, but taste sucks and price is higher than normal ones.

Company (DHL): Happy to be back. Yet it is very different work environment than the one in Asia. Just will say that local culture is always reflected in the companies, multinationals as well. Positive things are that we have nice team, helpful and friendly colleagues, meeting new friends within the company, etc. Nothing much about negative sides, this blog is not for that.

Accommodation: Will be renting a room from a family in Hostivar, Prague 10. Far from city centre, close to work. It is difficult to get a place you want these days, many people are hunting for a roof. So it is landlords are the ones who make a choice, not the renters.

Football: Joined DHL team. Soon will start for trainings. Planning to go to watch Sparta Praha and Slavia Praha games as well. Btw, I got to know that there's kyrgyz guy who plays for Sparta Praha in its youth team. Would be great to see him in international arena.

Photography: I want to buy semi-professional camera if I can afford next month. Need to take some shots of beautifull autumn in Prague.

Traveling: In december, I will get my long term visa, then Europe is mine. Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Milan, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Munich are on the top of my list.

Kyrgyz community: There are aound 60-70 kyrgyz people here in Prague, mostly students and those who work for Radio Free Europe (Azattyk), and some other people working. We had a Kyrgyz reunion dinner in Radio Azattyk hall, had a chance to meet most of them. Photos will be posted once I get them.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at

weekends in Prague

There was bunch of AIESEC trainees from Brno past weekend, another reason to party, go for sightseeing and taking photos. Coz I sold my digital camera, now I have only chance to put photos taken from others cameras.


Tugce(turk), greek girl (damn, forgot her name), Alba(catalan), "daddy", Andreea(romanian), Ashil (cameroonian), Murat (turk)


Forza Barca! Catalonia is not Spain! :) (famous Charles Bridge is on the background)


By Vltava river


Crazy girls from Brno, full luggage packed castle+cathedral tour :). Key words for them; "Keys, RCV3 batteries, voice, boots, 4 Charles bridge visits in 2 days,... . Lovely duo!


Marketa, me and Yat. Better view of Cathedral.


Inside the lift of Clock Tower near Old Town Square, Prague.
+++ Check my travel photo sets at