Praha and the Hungarian train

My first two efforts to go to Praha (Prague) were not successful, either I missed a train totally or the available connections just doesn’t make sense..ending myself each time in Berlin! I almost give up at the third trial coz myself and this nice couple – (American woman married to a German man) going to Praha got on the wrong coach that headed for Leipzig, eventhough the train clearly said Praha. We had to make a 3-4 hour detour becoz of that mistake and shorting my time in Praha effectively. That really thought us a lesson- that coaches do separate! Well, we figured we must experience everything at least once.

So I finally saw Praha today.. it is a beautiful, vibrant and happenin' town, exudes old world charm with huge ornate buildings. Where did these people get all these money to build humongous monuments and buildings from???

The Chezch are nice warm people. I have strangers chatting me up as soon as we got to Cheb borders like they’d known me for years and speaking in a strange language that includes a lot of the word 'nam'. They would keep chatting with me without realizing I have no idea what the 'heck' they are talking about, except they seems to be very excited to meet someone from Malaysia, including the border polizeis :)

Beautiful countryside, town and river.. too bad not much time to
spend in Praha. I have to overnite again in Berlin, which seems
like my temporary home right now.. coz all trains go back to Berlin
before Hamburg and north. I missed one connection and so had to take
the early morning train tomorrow morning.

Praha has great theater scenes, and transportation around town is so
much cheaper compared to Berlin - in general cheaper than EU
countries. I sure hope it will last for some time.

At this point of my journey, I also really missed my apt ): It feels such a vagabond to be on the road all the time, but I guess the new sceneries and experience along the way compensate for that.

I also experience my first, "Eastern European way".

From Praha to Berlin, the train conductor insisted that I need to pay an additional 24 euro to his pocket (eventhough the full ticket is paid for and meaning I don't get a receipt - but he returned the 4 X 1 euro coins (I figured coz you can't change euro coins at the money exchange!). He put it like he's doing me a favor by personally taxing me only 20 euro), while the jolly kitchen chef insisted I gave him a kiss on the cheek to change some money to pay that train conductor! Oh well! On top of it, the kitchen staff gaily brought me a dinner menu to my seat, explaining in details their speciality, that I felt I must order something from the kitchen.

I then realized all the menu are in Hungarian and it dawned on me that I was on a Hungarian train! with an all Hungarian staff! (err.. yes, I also end up with an expensive Hungarian dinner..Hungarian gnocchi is terrible! just lumps of plain boiled dough :) Considering this, I felt quite lucky after all the warnings I read on possible Hungarian harassment from the travel guide..especially since all services were served with a smile :)