Day 2: Prague to Cesky Krumlov

The next day we got up early to get to a car rental place in order to head out to Cesky Krumlov. I was ubber excited about Cesky because I had read it was picture perfect. It was supposed to look like something out of a Disney movie. A cab driver had told us that you couldn't even drive into the city. This made me so excited.

Renting a car proved initially difficult because the place was a lot further than we had remembered. When we got to the location there was a sign saying they'd come back later with a number. We of course could not call because our phones were not working. We walked around looking for another car rental place. This didn't work out and we were extremely annoyed at the fact that nothing seemed to be open. Finally, we walked back and the initial car rental place was open. After that it was smooth sailing.

Our little car was mostly driven by Nathan (who insisted on driving because he had experience in snow, which annoyed me but made sense). Getting to drive around though made me so happy. I miss driving. I need to get my license here in the UAE and get myself a pair of wheels. Luckily, the car came equipped with a GPS system. Our drive was three hours away. We drove by Cesky Budovice in route and finally arrived at Cesky Krumlov as the sun was setting. Our GPS told us to go on a street that was clearly labeled with a big X, so we parked and walked into the cobble stoned city. It was love at first sight. Our hotel was located within a short walking distance from the entrance and it was a good thing we didn't enter because we were in fact not allowed to do so. We dropped out bags at the hotel and made our way to the castle, which was just a walking distance away. This castle was surrounded by a river. The town in which it is located reminds me of the village in Beauty and the Beast. My windows opened outward and the streets were narrow and filled with small cute shops. It looked like nothing had changed in hundreds of years.

The castle at Cesky is very renaissance style. It is huge, and very ornate in terms of the painted walls. We walked around and got to see a beautiful view from the castle. Climbing up to the castle was quite a feat because of the icy ground and my ill equipped shoes. The view was worth it.

Night was falling upon us and we headed back to the hotel. I was so tired (a recurring theme this trip- my body felt out of it) and we ended up ordering pizza. I only ate a slice. I felt bad because Nathan wanted to explore (even though everything was closed) and wanted to grab a drink. I just wasn't up for it. I think in large part it was that my body is just not used to the cold weather. Nathan is a polar bear. hehe.

The next day we walked around the castle and ate some delicious breakfast in a small bakery. Early in the day we headed out to go to out next destination: Karvory Vary (a hot springs town that banks on it's relaxation).

Picture posts will follow. I feel too lazy for now.

Visiting the city that people always think I've moved to: Dubai

An old post about my first visit to Dubai (stayed on draft mode because I never got around to posting pictures)

Two nights ago after meeting with Jerry and Gen at Hemmingways, we hitched a plan to go to Dubai. I was really excited because I didn't think I'd go so soon. Jerry rented a car and was willing to take us. He warned us though that he "drove like an Emirate", which was scary news because that means that he drives really fast. There was room for one more person so I invited Michelle.

I wake up the next morning really energized and excited about the days adventure only to be let down. Here's the thing before I even got to Jerry and Gen who were waiting for me in the lobby, I saw Michelle who wasn't too happy and decided not to go. Long story short, I decided not to go either. It was a matter of comfort level. I went back to talk to Michelle and we decided to investigate renting a car for the day or catching a bus to Dubai. I really like Michelle for that reason, she's an adventurer.

We went to concierge and decided to go with the bus plan. Without leaving a moment to back out of our plans we went outside and caught a cab to the bus station. The station was clearly labeled. We asked the only other woman we saw how much the ride was. She told us 25 Dirhams. Sweet. That's about 5 US dollars. The bus that pulled up was not at all what I had expected. It was the typical Orlando field trip bus from back home; it was clean and air conditioned. We hopped on and were boarded first, which was nice. Women in the UAE ride in the front of the bus only. Typically they are escorted to "priority" lines at the bank and have separate lines at other random locations. I was glad that I had read about this before the bus ride because normally I would not sit in the front.

The ride to Dubai was about 2 hours. Michelle and I chatted most of the way. On the way there I spotted a circular skyscraper which Brett and I had watched a program about before I left. I snapped a picture to show him. Besides a few random towns, it was mostly desert (but not the cool sad dunes that I had seen on  the way to Al Ain).

When we arrived to Dubai we followed where we saw the majority of people were going. We threw on our scarves over our heads but that didn't last too long because it was hot. We just followed the crowd for some time and came to an area of Dubai that reminded me of China Town, NYC. The streets were a little dirty and there were no local people anywhere. Most of the people we saw looked like a blend of Indians and other darker skinned Arabs. There were no women to be spotted anywhere. This is not the glitz and glam that I expected of Dubai. At no point did I feel unsafe, but it was not the image that I expected to encounter. I was very glad that I was very modestly dressed.

We walked around aimlessly for a bit. There were stores everywhere and restaurants that smelled open which was surprising because of Ramadan. We stumbled upon our first souk in Dubai and it looked a lot more like the souks that we wanted to see in Abu Dhabi. This souk was outdoors and shaded by a wooden structure. Just like in NYC, each shop keeper would say "hello ladies, please please come in and see." We said "no, thank you" profusely and continued our walking. We figured we'd be back to this area if we didn't see anything elsewhere. As soon as we left this souk area we saw water. We walked towards it because we knew that we needed to cross the channel in order to reach the other souks. We walked along the water and between the buildings we saw rows of men sitting down in the shade. I assumed they were workers by their demeanor. I couldn't help but feel bad for these workers. I have difficulty with the Ramadan restrictions and am barely active. These men have to perform physical labor and are expected to adhere to the same rules (a lot of them are also Muslims as well). Supposedly, the rules were somewhat relaxed for workers based on a news clip that I watched the other day.

Across the channel we saw Dhows, which are wooden boats that are used to crossed. We knew that we had to pay to cross and asked how much. It only cost us 1 Dirham (3.68Dhs=$1) to cross. Michelle and I hopped on the boat with all other men. The dhow ride was my favorite part of Dubai. It was nice to feel the breeze as we went across and take in the view provided. The boats themselves looked ancient and it was fascinating to see so many boats crossing the channel.