My Humble Apologies

I am sorrylah people. I keep getting ten minutes internet access yo since i left Poland. I will update this blog once the Spain leg is over. Don´t miss me too much. heh heh heh. I am now in Malaga, Spain. By the beach and all. Best.

p.s.: Nochaz, got people waiting issit? kembang.

Jalan-Jalan Di Krakow 3

2 April 2008 - We are up early to siap, pack and check out. It is our last day in Poland. The 3 girls looking after the hostel are really nice. Should have tipped them tapi lupa. We leave our bags at the hostel and take the bus to Oswiecim from the main bus station which is just behind the train station. Its a 2 hour bus ride (18 zlotys for a return ticket). We reach our destination and its pouring. Hujan lah pulak and of all the days its the day we decide to go to Auschwitz which obviously is going to have a lot of outdoor walking.

The entrance to the State Musuem Auschwitz-Birkenau is free but we pay 39 zlotys per person to have a guide. Auschwitz was the largest German Nazi's Concentration camp. But the killing was mostly done at Birkenau (Extermination Camp) where they had the gas chambers to kill and ovens to burn the bodies. We first watch a short movie. That was already hard to watch. Then the guide takes us around Auschwitz and we are given the history of what happened. How they sufferred. What they were asked to do. What they wore. What they ate. It is way too horrific. Then we take a bus to Birkenau and we are given a run down of Birkenau as well. This place is even more depressing. But the gas chambers and ovens were mostly burned down by the Nazi's when they kalah already to rid of evidence. Its a big camp, a long walk past their barracks, past the train tracks to the actual extermination area. The rooms (the barracks) are horrible the toilets torture gila. Like berpuluh holes beside each other and they were given seconds to use it.

Most of them who came to the camp were given a letter kononye they had better opportunity for work and to live here pastu sampai terus kena sound and divided into groups that were exterminated straight away or those who were choosen to provide hard labour till they died. The stuff i saw was too sad and depressing so am not gonna write about it in detail. You can however google it on wikipedia if you wanna know more. It is accurate. We are there when its raining and everything just looks bleak. I hope hope hope that this event that marks inhumane characters in the human race never ever occurs again. Everybody knows and has heard about the Nazi's and these Concentration camps. But being there and actually seeing it and hearing about the individual Nazi's (like the generals and the scientists/proffessors) and what they did to the people especially the kids was a different experience altogether. Tempat nie depressing sial. Zanita and I can't believe we actually set foot at this place. Who would have thought we got to actually do this trip and see all these places yang sebelum nie we angan2 only.

By the time we get back to Krakow its 7ish. We are cold, hungry (the last meal being brekkie) and wet. Jeans basah. kasut basah. socks pun basah mat! penat gila. So its back to the hostel. Another kebab and fries meal. Gantung stoking and kasut at the heater. Check internet. Tengok tv. Then we walk to the train station to catch out 1025pm train. The train is pretty empty so zanita and i tak yah share bilik ngan orang lain. Comei je the room. Tapi kalau betul lah ade 6 orang mane ade space. our bags je took up half the floor and our bags are of normal size. My shoulders by the way is killing me. Backpack looks cool and is convenient but it hurts (sebab kena jalan jauh)! Our friends from Prozak are on the first class cabin. We should have spent a bit more lah kan sebab bilik first class ade cupboard and sink (both takdek in ours obviously), ade duvet (ours selimut biasa) and comfy pillows (ours is so nipis baik tak yah kasik pun takpe). But anyway we are so tired, train bergerak terus tidor baek punya. We are to arrive Prague keesokan paginye. Bye Bye Krakow!

My Phone Number

Kawan- kawan, I don't carry my Malaysian phone much. So as requested this is my number. Been using it since I got here and will use it till I leave. Its + 44 7594 335 085. I had it on Facebook. I didn't know that it stays for only a week on your Facebook main page. Sorry.

Jalan-Jalan Di Krakow 2

1 April 2008 - We are up early. Well I am up early. Its my turn to wake up early. Its a Tuesday. We have lots to cover today. We have breakfast first at the hostel. Its much better than Edinburgh. The cheese and chocolate spread are yummy. When we arrived on Monday we had already gone to the information centre at the Cloth Hall at the Main Square to get the free guide book The Visitor. There are several other free Krakow guide books, just ask the information centre. The Visitor guides you through walking tours so you can do it yourself.

Dah makan pagi, with The Visitor Guide Book and The Lonely Planet Guide Book we walk to Wawel Hill. It is easy to find. On Wawel Hill is the Wawel Castle and Cathedral, symbols of Poland. The royal family (when royals existed) and the Presidents resided here when Krakow was the Capital of Poland. There is lots to see here but semua ade cover charge. So we decide on 2 places that is highly recommended. The State Rooms (15 zlotys no guide) and The Royal Private Apartments in the Castle (22 zlotys got guide). This Wawel Castle and the Cathedral, its very interesting. Its not one type of style or architecture. Dia macam rojak of different styles and colours but somehow it works. The courtyard has a very communist feel to it. Its grey, blocky and too structured. The guided tour was pretty good cause they give a rundown of Polish history. The royal bathroom has a kick-ass bathtub. Macam swimming pool. We meet friends we met the night before at Prozak and walk around the compound of the castle, the rest of Wawel Hill. On one side of the hill you get a fantastic view of the City and Vistula River.

We finish Wawel hill around 1pm. We then walk to Kazimierz the Jewish Quarter. In the 15th century Jews were expelled from Krakow and forced to resettle in a prescribed area which is Kazimierz. We do the walking tour using The Visitor Guide Book. I am the tour guide. Zanita is my only customer. Muka macam kena paksa. Macam sial. hehehehehhe. We go to the Jewish New Cemetry, Temple Synagogue (the only one with laki p'puan duduk skali), Plac Nowy (the Jewish square with a pasar since 1900), Centre for Jewish Culture, Izaak Synagogue (Baroque style), Wysoka Synagogue (famous for having 10m high walls), Krakow Historical Musuem on Jews and Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery (the most important Synagogue here). All these places we went to the buildings are old but dijaga dengan baik skali so they are beautiful and they are different. The Jewish town is comel and quaint with some really cute joints and back alleys. Like got Singer pub with Singer sewing machines on the tables. There is this cool place The Alchemist in a really old run down building. People are wearing the Jewish kopiah. Restaurants are Kosher. And we see hebrew everywhere. Oh we had crap lunch so am not gonna bother writing bout it.

Kaki dah nak patah but we have one more walking tour to do which is the Old Town walking tour. Zanita dah memang nak give up tapi i jadik Nazi and force her anyway. We go to St Andrew Church (Romanesque style) and The Church of St Peter and Paul (Baroque style). We sit on the steps between these 2 churches and I read out loud to Zanita the history of these 2 places. Kaki dah patahkan. Plus we is not young anymore. Ponek. Then we heave our asses of the steps and go check out Franciszkanow Church (Gothic style). Opposite this church there is a yellow building with the late Pope John Paul II punye gambo besar gila on the 1st floor. He was from Krakow and when he came this place had some symbolic meaning. People are berkerumun di depan gambar Pope praying and using prayer beads and candles. Then we cross over to Collegium Maius the oldest building of learning (Krakow Academy) in Poland. It is a lovely place with a really cute courtyard. As you can tell by now I am not a good writer. Vocab kureng banyak. So bear with the description of cantik ok.

Then we're off to the main square that houses the Cloth Hall in the middle (used to be a street crossing the market from north to south), Church St. Wojciech (the smallest and oldest church in Krakow, if you don't read you'd just miss it), Town Hall (a symbol of Krakow), the main market (the flowers sold are so pretty they look fake) and the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary (with 2 impressive towers not of the same height cause one used to be a watch tower. Dulu a horn called Hejnal was blown as warning for enemies coming. Now they still do it midday but midway it stops in remembrance of a guard who got shot with an arrow when he blew it). Next stop was the Czartoyski Musuem one fo the oldest musuem in Krakow. This big yellow building. The we walk to right to the Florianska Gate once the main city gate. Opposite it is the Barbican a Gothic Style building built by King Jan Olbracht with a 26 meter wide moat around it. Now the moat takde lah. Got park instead.

Then we go to Planty this huge park with big trees (yg botak lah kan now) and lots of grass and seats to lepak on. We grab a waffle (mine with cream, zanita's with toffee) and sit for a bit. The waffle is nampak tak sedap tapi sedap gila. Then we walk to the main railway station to buy our tickets for the train to Prague. Its a sleeper train with beds. Either you pay 250 zlotys for 1st class (2 beds) or 200 zlotys for the 2nd class bunks (6 beds to a room). We decide to go cheap. Zanita asks me whether i can sleep on the train. I can't remember the last time i took a train.

Needless to say our walk back to the hostel (only 5 minutes) was horrific lah sebab sakit gila kaki. badan penat. macam nak pengsan lah jugak. We decide to just tapau food cause it was about 7ish and we wanted to rest first before going out malam tu cause we janji with our friends from Prozak we'd go out. We buy kebab (apparently they say its their national food. sejak bila tak taulah kan. tapi banyak gila gerai kebab) from this Tunisian dude. And we buy fries from Mcdonalds. We go up to the hostel kitchen and we eat the kebab. Mak ai kebab dia sedap gila. It is generous with its meat and they put this yoghurt like sauce and spicy chilli sauce. Damn good. We lepak, layan internet, layan tv (semua alih suara to polish tapi suara omputih still on. pastu laki ke p'puan ke alih suara dia suara laki. macam alih suara orang pekak).

Then we force ourselves out again. Dah tua2 pun nak tengok gak club. Actually cause the clubs are all around our hostel like 2-3 minutes walk pasal tu lah nak kisah. Kalau kena naik transport ke added effort ke dah lama tido. Anyway, ministertwo is full of rap like hip hop kids with seluar londeh nampak seluar dalam and hoodies so of course we don't stay. We go to frantic instead (dapat free pass from another awek polish cun). Frantic and Ministertwo suppose to be happs lah for Tuesday. And frantic is cool. The crowd is older and waaaaay cooler. Ke kitorang dah tua tak cool tak taulah. apo-apojelah. Frantic is also like an old complicated wine cellar. Also multi levels also with various lepak areas and music and dancefloors like Prozak. But Frantic has an rnb hip hop room too. We had a good time eventhough we were pretty tired. We leave early and tido sebab esoknye nak pergi Auschwitz.

Oh you can check our Zanita's album on Krakow on Facebook. Than you can put a picture to what i wrote. Apparently i can put picture on this blog. Thats just far to complicated for me lah.

Jalan-Jalan Di Krakow 1

We arrived here on a Monday like I wrote in my post Safe in Krakow. After dinner and lepak at the hostel we decide to venture out and see the clubbing scene of Krakow. Zanita has been wanting to visit the clubs which are underground in Eastern Europe. Most of the clubs here in Krakow are underground. So we're walking past the main square - Rynek Glowny and this chick (pretty hot, polish chicks are HOT) comes up and gives us this booklet on the nightlife of Krakow (tiap-tiap malam got place to go) and gives us free passes. So Monday nights is Club Prozak night. We get to Prozak, its a tiny little door and the queu is panjang sampai ke luar. Standard melayu malu tak tau nak masuk ke tak. Tapi adventure punye pasal we queu. Macam susah je nak masuk. But hey presto the free passes gets us in easy. Terkejutlah bila masuk. It was surreal. The place is actually huge and it goes another 3 floors down. Its like being in a huge complicated wine cellar. There are different rooms with different music, banyak corners, tempat lepak (huge sofas) and the weirdest was the lowest floor. It was like some middle eastern joint. Lagu arab, minah2 gelek arab, shisha, the works. The music is pretty good at the main room. House music. We hang out there. We make friends. I can't stop staring at this Polish chick I talk to. Lawa gila. Gaya pakai tie is big with the Polish dudes though. But this place had lotsa travellers also lah. Not suprising since it was a Monday night. Oh and the Polish people are big on Vodka. Pretty good night. Quite an experience.

Alkohole

We see lots of ALKOHOLE signs. Its actually alcohol. I dunno why but Zanita and I just find it funny and always say it out loud when we see it and ketawa. Again and again. Macam tak bosan dengan lawak Alkohole.

Zanita wants to get her eyebrows waxed. They hardly speak English here. So there is a lot of sign action going on. Finally Zanita decides not to do it. I tell her what if they get the signs mixed up and they do something else to her and I tell her to bring back the saloon menu and ask the girls who look after our hostel where to go wax. True enough what the saloon ladies pointed out to her was eyebrow henna colouring. Nasib baik tak buat. Tapi kalau Zanita dah terbuat pun takpe. I boleh cheapkan dia they whole trip. Muahahahahahaha.

In Krakow there are plenty of street vendors that sell bread that look like pretzels. There are a variety of different types of these bread like pretzels. These vendors also sell bread made like a ball and put through a string like a necklace. One rantai has about 10 roti bola So I told Zanita this is one rantai I would really love to wear. Cause I am always lapar, kalau keluar pakai rantai nie gila best. Bila lapar je makan lah satu bead (roti bola). Cool or what.

As promised the name of the Polish restaurant we went to on the first night is U Babai Maliny. Its on Bastztowa Street. Our Krakow trip ends in 2 hours. We are waiting to take our night sleeper train to Prague. I am cold cold cold cause it rained today and my jeans, shoes and socks are wet. Ergh....

I wish we had one more day in Krakow cause we didn't get to go to Wieliczk Salt Mine. Its on Unesco's World Heritage List. Not enough time. But Auschwitz is on the List too. We got to do that. I knew that on this trip we won't be able to do everything. Wish the trip was longer!

We have enjoyed Krakow. Its different and not very touristy and very very clean. The people are friendly eventhough they don't speak much English. They just keep on speaking Polish macamlah we can faham. It would be cool if I could come back again someday.

Safe in Krakow

31 March 2008 - We finally arrive in Krakow, Poland. Our journey starts here. There are hardly any signs here in English but we manage to take the free shuttle from the airport to the train station (its in the middle of nowhere, there is no station, just a train and its tracks). Took a train to Glowny Station near the Old Town (centre). And walk from Glowny Station to Florianska Street (within the Old Town area) to our hostel, Hocus Pocus. It is right smack in town. But it is on the top floor on top of shops and restaurants. And no lifts. So yay we get to naik turun tangga everyday for the next three days. This hostel is really cute. Macam rumah. We're in a 4 bedded room. There is a living room with tv and dvds. Kitchen with brekkie included. 3 bathrooms to choose from. And free internet. For a night its about 50 zlotys which is about 10+ pounds.

For your info: The free shuttle to the train station from the airport is in front of the airport. Just keluar from the airport. Walk straight up and you'll see a queu for a bus that has no counter or tempat beli tiket. It drops you at the train station. The train to Glowny Station is 6 zlotys about 1+ pounds. Then from Glowny Station walk across the mall and you'll see signs leading you to the Old Town area right to Rynek Glowny the main square. To change money Malaysia takdek lah. Got to change here with Euros or Pounds or other major currencies.

Our flight arrived petang tadi so we've just ventured around the Old Town to get our bearings. So far we have actually seen a couple of attractions but we'll do it properly tomorrow. But from what we have just seen it is gorgeous here. And so far we have seen no other Asians so we are getting some strange looks. Oh and kastam punye beleklah kita punye passport. Lama gila to clear passport control. Every page of the passport was checked.

Recommended by the Hostel chick we had dinner at a Polish joint. I'll update the name of the place nanti. Left it in the room. The place is 3 floors and is really really cute. You get a number and just like at immigration your number will come out at the screen and you go pick up your food. Then you go send back your dirty dishes. Anyway we try Pierogi a classic Polish dish. Its made out of floor and has filling. The most popular being pork or cabbage/mushroom. We try the laterlah kan. Its sedap macam samosa but served on a huge bread made like a tray. I told Zanita that the bread was a real plate and she was going to have to pay for the 'destroyed plate' cause she ate the sides. We had that for starters, our own mains and with a drink it only costs us 43 zlotys. Thats about 5 pounds per person. Cheap.

Trying to decide what to do now. Laters.