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London: 五月天 Mayday Now Here Concert At Wembley Arena

London: 五月天 Mayday Now Here Concert At Wembley Arena – Mayday is one of my favourite Taiwanese band and they are well-known for their extremely engaging and entertaining concert. Some even calls them the Beatles of the East. Their famous No-where and Now-Here concert world tour has been going on for two years since 2012 till now and in February, they came to Wembley Arena in London to perform and I bought ticket to go see their concert! Couldn’t believe that I was watching a Taiwanese concert in an English-land.

I was not really a fan of Mayday previously until they started this concert tour and has been getting very good feedback and comment! They came to Malaysia last year, but I was busying with university stuff and I didn’t get to check them out. London was the first stop of their Europe tour where Paris and Amsterdam came next. It was quite exciting although I’ve got the cheapest ticket @ £40, the view was not so bad after all. It’s not a surprise to see so many Chinese in the stadium, but it’s quite amazing that it was a full-house!

I’ve a friend who is a superfan of Mayday told me that the concert was better back in Malaysia, and perhaps in Taiwan. As a first-comer like me, I find that 3 hours night was fun and entertaining!

June 23, 2014
London: Interesting Camdem Town & Market

London: Interesting Camdem Town & Market – The hustle and bustle of metropolitan of London does has a cool funky side of it at Camden Market of Camden Town! This part is London is totally different from the downtown area and it’s fun, cheap, artsy, cool and fun! The Punk-style was also said to be born here!

Camden Market is reputed in London for its punk shops, cheap eats and bargains! For a visitor from Asia like me, it feels like Asia, selling cheap stuff like souvenirs, clothing, collectibles, antiques, and of course food! The food did look quite attractive at first, but after walking around the whole market, it seems like almost every stalls sell the same food, only different is the name – Chinese Food, Thai Food, Indian Food. If you look closely, most of them are take-all-you-can-in-a-box. Of course, there’s still some interesting food!

Nothing to buy, Chinese food I ate was not as good as I thought, but it’s a lovely and fun visit to Camden Market!

$London: Interesting Camdem Town & Market\$

Upside-down Man.

A canal at Camden Town.

Interesting motorbike seats by the canal.

June 23, 2014
17-Days Eastern Europe Trip Itinerary Recap
17-Days Eastern Europe Trip Itinerary Recap – Finally my blog posts about my Winter Trip in 2013 has finally comes to an end, here’s a recap of everything I’ve posted for your reference if you are planning for a trip to Eastern Europe. Don’t forget to include Cesky Krumlov if you are going to Prague and perhaps add another day to Lake Bled which is quite near to Vienna. You can also add in another couple days for Hallstatt too! Cheers!

Day 0:
- London Stansted To Warsaw Modlin Via RyanAir
Day 1:
- Warsaw, Poland – Heading To City From Modlin Airport
- Warsaw, Poland – Ulica Nowy Swiat – The High Street of The City
- Warsaw, Poland – Night At Stare Miasto (Old Town), Polish Food & Polish McDonald’s
Day 2:
- Warsaw, Poland – Got Scammed 40 Zloty For Pasta Meal
- Warsaw, Poland – Kebab Dinner, National Stadium
Day 3:
- Warsaw, Poland – Stare Miasto (Old Town) Revisited In Day Time
- Warsaw, Poland – Palace Of Culture And Science That Looks Like Empire State Building
- Warsaw, Poland – KFC’s Chicken Wings Are Finger Freaking Good
Day 4:
- Warsaw, Poland – Taking The Metro & Leaving To Krakow By PolskiBus
- Krakow, Poland – Arriving To This Beautiful Town & B Movie Hostel
- Krakow, Poland – Kazimierz Jewish Quarter
Day 5:
- Krakow, Poland – Auschwitz Concentration Camp – A Horrifying Trip
- Krakow, Poland – Wieliczka Salt Mine, Almost
Day 6:
- Krakow, Poland – Sunny & Beautiful Day At Stare Miasto Old Town
- A Scary Journey From Krakow – Zakopane – Poprad-Tatry
Day 7 – 8:
- Bratislava, Slovakia – A Slow & Peaceful Capital Of Slovakia
Day 9:
- Budapest, Hungary – Arriving via Student Agency Bus, Ride The Old Budapest Metro
Day 10:
- Budapest, Hungary – Free Tour, Buda Castle, St Stephen Basilica & More Awesome Places in Day Time
- Budapest, Hungary – The City Looks Even More Beautiful At Night, Trust Me!
Day 11:
- Budapest, Hungary – Must Visit Szechenyi Baths For A Dip
- Budapest, Hungary – Very Beautiful Alexandra Book Cafe – Lotz Terem
- Budapest, Hungary – New York Cafe, The Most Beautiful Cafe In The World
- Budapest, Hungary – Very Interesting ‘Ruin’ Bar & Club
Day 12:
- Vienna, Austria – Weurstelprater Fun Fair At Prater Park
Day 13:
- Vienna, Austria – A Day In Innere Stadt, The Old Town Of Vienna
- Vienna, Austria – The Famous Cafe Central Which Was Once Visited By Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler & More!
- Vienna, Austria – Inside The Grand Vienna Opera House And Tips On Getting Cheap Ticket
Day 14:
- Vienna, Austria – Morning Market & Austrian Meal For Breakfast At Reumannplatz
- Vienna, Austria – Schonbrunn Palace
- Vienna, Austria – Quiet Day At United Nations Office
- Vienna, Austria – The Original Cafe Sacher & Night In Inner Stadt
Day 15:
- Prague, Czech Republic – Hey, Praha!
- Prague, Czech Republic – Christmas Market At Wenceslas Square
Day 16:
- Prague, Czech Republic – Walk In The Old Town, Jewish Quarter & Charles Bridge
- Prague, Czech Republic – Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe
Day 17:
- Prague, Czech Republic – Prague Castle
- 18 Hours Ride From Prague To London By Bus and Sunrise At French Border
June 19, 2014
18 Hours Ride From Prague To London By Bus and Sunrise At French Border

18 Hours Ride From Prague To London By Bus and Sunrise At French Border – My Eastern Europe Winter Trip blog post series is coming to an end right now with this last post that shows me travelling back to London from Prague in a superlong 18-hours bus ride! It would take just about 2 hours to fly from Prague to London, but we opted for the long way because flying back 3 days before New Year costs like £100 and the bus we took was like about £55 and it’s the cheapest way!

It’s surely a long ride and we didn’t know how we could survive it but yeah, we managed to reach London, happily with a little smile on the face and tiredness. The long-distance bus started from Prague, calling at a few stops – Plzen, Nurnberg, Heidelbern, Dover and finally London! We packed a fried rice for each of us from a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner and armed our tablet with movies and music to pass the time. Surprisingly, most of my time was spent sleeping!

The only part that was not so happy was waiting at the French border for like 2 hours, it’s like a massive traffic jam at the immigration but the unhappy moment was counter by a good welcome of sunrise! Immigration was quick at the French side but the immigration officer questioned me a lot at the English side and tried to use a magnifying glass to look close at my English Student VISA as if it’s fake. WTF, but never mind, I knew about this early already.

Astonished that the bus went into a train and then the trained travelled in the sea through the English Channel in Channel Tunnel. I thought it was gonna be the ferry that took us across, but luckily it was the train as it’s faster, else have to spend another 2 hours on the bus. Reached London at 11am and yeah, we survived the long bus ride.

At Prague’s bus station – Praha Florenc.

Long long queue at the French side.

Bus into train, through Channel Tunnel, into England! Amazed!

June 18, 2014
Prague: Prague Castle

Eastern Europe Trip // Prague: Prague Castle – Last day in Prague and the Prague Castle was truly the highlight of our visit to the city. Rest atop a hill overlooking the beautiful Vltava River and the old centre of Prague, it is extremely difficult to miss the beauty and impressiveness of this symbol of Czech Republic.

No exact date of when it was founded but many ‘think’ that it was founded sometime in 880. Since then, it has suffered a long history of changing regimes and a few wars. The castle had served as home for the Bohemian kings, Roman emperiors, Nazi leaders and communist government officials! Nowadays, it functions as the residence and office for the President of Czech Republic and continues as a popular attraction for visitors like us!

Without using any public transport, we took our slow time up to the castle, and I can assure you that it looks far, but it’s really easy and fast to get on top.

June 18, 2014
Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe

Eastern Europe Trip // Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe – Ola! I’ve just came back from my Spain & Porgual summer trip and it was a fun and hot one! Back to Newcastle right now and I’ve plenty of free time to share with you about my travel experience. Continue on what I’ve left previously where I was in Prague during my Eastern Europe Trip, here I want to bring you a cool cubist cafe in Prague – the Grand Cafe Orient.

If you are wondering what is cubist, cubisim is an early 20th-century avant-garde art movement by Georges Braque and the famous Pablo Picasso and the interior of this cafe is styled after the cubism.

During the trip, we were like addicted to cafe exploring after checking out the few in Budapest and Vienna. So we found this Grand Cafe Orient which is located in the House of the Black Madonna in the city. Amazed by the interior and atmosphere, but the beverage did not catch my attention. Well, Prague is a small city and we took the exploration slow and easy. Thus, an hour of short break in the cafe, enjoying cubism interior was relaxing!

June 18, 2014
Prague: Walk In The Old Town, Jewish Quarter & Charles Bridge

Eastern Europe Trip // Prague: Walk In The Old Town, Jewish Quarter & Charles Bridge – Prague stands out as one of the few cities in Europe that emerged from World War 2 with its medieval old town still intact entirely. As you wander its cobblestoned streets of the old town, sometimes it can feels like you’ve been travelled back in time.

Prague is a little city, but equipped with a good network of public transport like tram and subway. Though, my favourite and cheapest way of transporting around is by walking and basically, the main attractions in the city are walkable. We joined a free walking tour which brought us through the Old Town, to the Jewish Quarter which the tour would be ended at the super famous and beautiful Charles Bridge.

The photo series below will brings you into the tour of Prague. Prague is small; although it’s the capital of Czech Republic, you could not notice any skyscraper in the city, 90% of the buildings have a long history behind them. Strolling along the street in the city will give you a relaxing sensation. It’s just so chill, calm and touristy! Basically, I find that Prague is like a living museum, with their unique culture, somewhat interesting, but not to the extend of awesome! Nevertheless, there’s a few thing that were quite magnificent and attractive to me – Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and the Prague Astronomical Clock.

Cut the crap and enjoy the photos of Prague below. Other note, I thought of finishing my blog post series of my Winter Eastern Europe Trip in this week, but then I failed to achieve my target as I was too busy with work lately. Well, I shall continue it when I come back from my short summer gateaway this coming week, so stay tuned and I am definitely going to wrap up the whole thing soon! Cheers!

Cool and funny installation outside Mosaic House.

Wenceslas Square in the morning with the National Museum of Czech Republic in background.

I know how it works. Wahahaha.

The famous Prague Astronimical Clock.

The Jewish Cemetery, the tour guide told us that they bury the body on top of each other, so it’s quite deep down there!

Prague Castle at background.

On the super awesome Charles Bridge, but with lots of tourist!

Say hi to your blogger – Nick Chan.

June 7, 2014
Prague: Christmas Market At Wenceslas Square

Eastern Europe Trip // Prague: Christmas Market At Wenceslas Square – After checking into our hostel, we did not hesitate much and headed out to explore the city right away. Though it was a slow walk into the city centre as we found that Prague is not as huge as other capital, in fact it’s small and definitely walkable around the main attractions.

Before I start with the pictures, I have to say that I am now kinda regret not including Cesky Krumlov into my Prague trip as the beautiful historical town with an awesome palace lies just two hours from Prague. So the lesson is, do more research before heading for a trip as we just went through briefly on the travel guide about Prague when planning.

Back to the post, we didn’t really do much research on Prague as we were just relying on the free tours and the guide map. Since it’s dark out there in the afternoon, the only thing we could do and enjoy was to check out the Christmas Market at Wenceslas Square. There’s two Christmas Market, one at the Old Town Square and another at Wenceslas Square. However, we only went to one at night because we thought that Christmas Market all looks just the same, moreover we would be checking the other one out during the free walking tour, so….. HAHA.

The road to the city centre was slow and quiet; the bustle atmosphere and chattering can only be felt when nearing the New Town. Since Prague is so small and relaxing, the night was explored slowly with no rush. =)

Beautiful graffiti in Prague. I like how they spray it well and not spray it like a mess.

Welcome to the Christmas Market at Wenceslas Square, the same Christmas Market’s food like sausage, candy, mulled wine and more.

Bata! Many people in Malaysia is still not aware that Bata is actually a Czech Republic’s company! It’s my favourite brand for white school shoes during my school days! =)

First try on hot mulled wine @ 2.5Euro per cup. Taste weird, but quite nice to drink in a cold weather.

Looks like a parliament building or administrative building, but no, it’s the National Museum of Prague.

June 5, 2014
Prague: Hey, Praha!

Eastern Europe Trip // Prague: Hey, Praha! – After writing for so long time, finally the Eastern Europe Trip post series is coming to an end. Prague was the last destination of my Eastern Europe trip during last Winter and it’s time to put a period to it! I’ve met some tourist in Budapest who told me that Prague is his favourite place amongst all of the Eastern European cities because of the city suffered the least bombing during World War 2 and still preserved most of the old buildings. Somehow, don’t know was it because that the trip was coming to an end and we were tired of travelling for that long, arriving at Prague didn’t really give me a powerful feeling. It’s just old, small, and dirtier than Vienna and Budapest. Still, the city that had given me the OHMMMMM feeling on first impression was still Budapest!

It took about 4 hours +- to travel to Prague from Vienna on a comfortable Student Agency bus. The weather wasn’t that great and night was falling at the time we reached. Fare dodging was not that possible in Prague and we bought ticket off the convenience store (you can’t pay by notes at the machine) and headed to our hostel – Mosaic House! 😛

June 5, 2014
Vienna: The Original Cafe Sacher & Night In Inner Stadt

Eastern Europe Trip // Vienna: The Original Cafe Sacher – The famous and most original Viennese chocolate cake – Sacher Torte can be found at Cafe Sacher of Hotel Sacher. The Sacher Torte is a chocolate cake, invented in 1832 by Franz Sacher in Vienna and it has the become one of the most famous Viennese culinary speciaties.

So after trying out the one but not the original one at Cafe Central, we have decided to head over to try the original version despite we were travelling on a budget. The city was quiet on a Christmas evening, but a long queue of tourist built up in the front of Cafe Sacher. We took a walk around the city before heading back to the cafe to check out the queue and greatly, the queue was shorten.

The cafe is small, yet have a beautiful interior decor, which is comparable to the two in Budapest (New York Cafe & Alexander Book Cafe). However, something I dislike about the cafe is that it is compulsory to check in our coat into the cloakroam and each checked in item is charged 1Euro. I don’t really like the way they force you to check in and charge you an Euro for it.

Anyway, it was a good one hour spent at Cafe Sacher as we had no place to go. The Sacher Torte was indeed better than Cafe Central but is it the best chocolate cake in the world? I still couldn’t decide on that yet.

June 1, 2014

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