1/29/2009

On my way to Praha到布格格的路上_首爾仁川轉機

It was a pretty smooth flight from Taoyuan to Seoul. I was sitting with no one, and so were other seemingly solo-travellers. This is one of the advantages of traveling alone, you are more likely to have your own space if the flight is not full. I watched a movie starred by Diane Lien and Richard Gere after finish my breakfast. Some people age gracefully and they are certainly among them.

After arriving Soul, it took me a while to locate the transfer desk of Korean Air. One of the lady in the counter has pretty good command of Mandarin.

I determined to find a place to use my priority Pas. After going up and down the escalator twice and the information desk didn't really help much, I decided to go back to the lady in the Korean Air. Viola, just around the corner, pass a coffee shop, there's a hub accepts Priority Pass.

The room faciliaties are not much but just enough. Internet services, quite a few selection of food and baverage, most of them are pretty light.

The beauty of it is....I don't have to pay...well, sort of, in exchange with my prior spending;-P

Time to go now.... I'll be in prague 11 hours later!

 

Flying Korean Air

CIMG1910 It's better to look up the lounge for your priority pass on the internet before you leave for the airport.

Usally they would have a sign on the doorway states who are entitled with the privilege.

The Inchuan airport in Seoul looks new and clean. The toilet  is a bit small, just enough room to squeenze in with a backpack. I don't get the idea of how they managed to design a restroom with spacious asiles but minimum room for each toilet? It's not comfortable at all!

The airport looks pretty spacious and modern but isn't that the same thing to almost every airport in major cities? The Korean Experience Room however, is an interesting stop to have a bit of korean taste if you wish to kill some time while waiting for transfering flight.

It is located in Gate 23. You won't miss it since the decoration is quite exotic. Two beautiful Korean ladies station there to introduce Korean culture to foreigners. On-site handcraft is invovled. I got to make my own miniature of paper folding with the material they offered.

 

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The lady is trying to fix the desaster....okay, i'm really not the material for artist.

CIMG1912 This beautiful Korean lady has pretty good command in Mandarin. She learned the language by watching soapies!

She probably knew more Taiwanese soapies than me!

It is a very simple craft but comes out lovely and impressive. The ladies wear traditional Korean outfit, a bit similar to Kimono. I have to say I absolutely admire its color and style. Somehow this petite Korean experience room improves my prior impression of Korea. Great marketing!

This is also my first time to fly with Korean Air. I was disappointed to find out there's no TV available on board. No movie at all during this 11 hrs of flight! I was planning to have a movie-watching relay! :-(

The flight is nearly half full so I sit alone again. Well, ain't it great to travel in off-season?

 

1/26/2009

台南遊day1

距離上次w和來台南已經好幾年了,我們第一站先去安平古堡.和幾年前來的印象差不多,人很多,街道有些亂,不怎麼impressive.爸媽沒來過安平古堡,可惜今晚還是沒去成.5:30準時關門.

於是四處逛逛,逛到陳家蝦蚵,點了就那麼幾道朗朗上口的菜名,結論-1-10分的話,陳家蝦蚵只有1分.

勉強算是食物

奇怪的是食客不少,但是怎麼生意這麼好食物可以差到這種地步? 蚵仔煎還沒景美夜市的好吃!!

倒是今天晚上住宿的成大會館讓我很滿意.

房間寬敞,浴室寬大明亮.停車也很方便,就在成大校區內,環境也很好.而且好少人住的感覺.

相當安靜.

房間可無線上網.

結論1-10分: 得8分!

1/24/2009

5 DAYS from leaving for Prague

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8晚的住宿都搞定了.全部住宿費為5100kc,合台幣若概算為1:2的話,也不過10200NT.實在很便宜.

Prague webcam gives u a quick look at how the city looks like at the moment.

I was whining about the temperature the other day now I'm about to fly to the place covered in snow. Hmmmm, talking about contradictory.

Few people hesitate to ask me again how solo is my trip. Yes, solo, as you know, alone, singular, pereiod.

I take this as a way to say goodbye to my single life. My last chance to explore the world in my own pace. A lot of anonymous friends help me along the way. Comparing with a lovely-printed-but-too-thick-to-bring Lonely planet, I prefer local knowledge from those travelers.

The pool of knowledge made traveling alone more interesting, more tailor-made, more individual, sounds like TRAVEL 2.0? This could be a great research topic.

You can learn from/contribute experiences from here:

ehow

i go u go

trip advisor

As for how far you take them into account? That is your decision.

News Rumble

Read between the line. Read before and after. Read those that haven't been said.

我在這裏連到News Rumble.大體上是比較同一媒體,針對同一主題事件,在不同執政黨下的報導方向.

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自己比較,自己判斷.

在當地提款-布拉格之行準備篇

因為看了這篇文章所以特地去辦可以國際提領的金融卡.今天去領台銀的提款卡.申請時特地勾選國際提款的選項

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領好卡片後,我也呆呆的用網友建議的方法測試國際通提的方法(如下)

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結果都已經進入操作畫面,我正準備查詢餘額時...卡片就被吃掉了!

還好是在台灣銀行的atm操作,要不還真會折騰一下子呢!

台銀的人說不清楚為何會被吃掉,但反正這個測試方法用在台灣銀行金融卡是不通的!

不過,Avon's旅遊日誌還是很有幫助哦!

列出最近頻繁使用的網站-

The touching moment 

波希米亞花園 Angus真是好心,素昩平生的他熱心的回信指引我有關布拉格的各種local knowledge.非常感動!Angus我不認識你,但是非常謝謝你:-)

人生況味 出國在外錢很重要.這種過來人的經驗,預習一下是必要的! 

1/23/2009

辦公室閒話篇

某日某非癮君子的男老師在辦公室說: 這個菸害防治其實也要注意到吸煙者的人權吧?

擔任生教組長的女老師說: 他們也有權益,那你說阿扁也有人權嘍?

 

我不知道人權還認名字的?

照她這麼說,只要你是某家族的,你的人權也許自動減半? 但若你是某家族的,你的人權就自動昇高?

 

有這種白痴邏輯的人在教育圈還不算少數呢!?

1/04/2009

申請機場貴賓室服務-玉山銀行

若有白金卡可以看看你是否符合使用機場貴賓室的資格.當然,若是參加團體旅遊,恐怕就不太適合使用這種特權了.這裏有玉山銀行priority card的使用說明.

我本來以為又要下載申請表格開始填寫再寄出(我真的很討厭做填寫表格的事情),沒想到一通電話確認符合資格即可,玉山的客服會直接寄出卡片.

你還可以先問問會停留的機場是否有貴賓室服務.我提到的首爾仁川與布拉格Ruzyne機場都有.

是可以好好利用的服務哦!

This time Launceston-Tasmania

一直都沒繼續把去Launceston的照片放上來.

我們第一天住宿Leisure Inn給大家瞧瞧

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Leisure Inn其實只有3星.但是他的歷史可是有趣的呢!1840年的建築物,在1972年遷至現址,當時是在石頭上劃上記號搬到現址後再依序重建而成的.

"The Penny Royal was originally built in 1840 as a corn mill on the banks of the Isis River 54 kilometres from Launceston. In 1972, it was transported to its present site and reassembled stone by numbered stone and opened as the Penny Royal Motel."

摘自這裏.應有更詳盡的介紹,但忘了在那看到.

這是我們的apartment內部1樓,有小廚房,電視,暖氣(有些小)

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到2樓要先走有些窄的樓梯

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嗯...那地毯的花色還真是不對眼!

不過重點是整體乾淨,沒有味道.

除了....

走一步squeaky一聲的木板地板

還有...沒有view

 

 

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Leisure inn其實分2個住宿區,我們住的這一區離check-in還有些距離.若有租車停車很方便.

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旁邊就是附設的遊樂場,據說也是很有歷史的.可惜我們入住時封閉整修.

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我們就是住這一棟.

Leisure inn住宿感想:

1.2 bedrooms.1大1小,適合夫妻帶1小孩投宿

2.不知自己那晚是怎麼了,一直心神不寧..300年的老房子加上怪叫的木地板...我那晚其實有點怕...但也許是自己想太多了.沒想到我也這麼膽小!

3.乾淨

4. 離著名景點很近Cataract Gorge,一定要去哦!讓我想到太魯閣呢!想想看平坦的澳洲會有峽谷的景觀吔?!

1/03/2009

hotels booked...2 more nights to go

一個人準備旅行的功課還真多!

至目前為止已把前4天和最後一天的住宿訂好了.還有2晚的住宿還沒解決.

我訂的是Prague 的Hostel Tyn(2晚)-Krumlov的Hotel Skippy(2晚)及最後一天住的Miss Sophie.目前為止5晚的住宿費為3400 crown.若算1:2的話約合台幣6800.我覺得實在很便宜.

我也試著在背包客棧上post自己的行程請教高手,到別人的部落格問問題等等.一直都有人認真的指點我,好感動啊!

列出來對我很有幫助的幾個網站/blog如下,謝謝提供這些資訊的人.The best orientation I've ever had!

如果你跟我一樣是後段班的自助(意思是人家2個月前就開始準備,你幾天前才開始),而且對捷克又不熟悉,那麼這幾個網站是很好的起點:

wikitravel 有非常簡潔的介紹,例如prague分10區的由來,每一區的重點.看到這邊對手邊訂到的旅館位置會更有sense.

livingprague.com 是一個旅居布拉格的美國人寫的.內容詳實且提供許多local knowledge.我是在tripadvisor的討論區發現它的.

旅人一轉身 完整詳細的捷克攻略實在令我嘆為觀止!而且相當實用!

Prague daily monitor 當地報紙,在livingprague裏找到的連結.看到一篇很有趣的年度總結文8 events that didn't change the world but affected ČR (沒有改變這個世界卻深深影響捷克共和國發展的8件事).其中COMMUNISTS BACK IN POWER那一段和台灣一直懸而未決的228事件很有異曲同工之妙....

背包客棧更是不可不去的地方嘍!而且會有很熱心的過來人解答你的問題呢!

MY GOOGLE NOTEBOOK 我收集的布拉格資料

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