I was supposed to leave Taiwan on 8th November at 1am, but the flight was delayed and we left around 3:30am. I arrived in Manila at 6am and I took a taxi to my host's flat. It was already 7am when I got there and we were going to the Taal volcano that day so I had no time to sleep. I slept only around 3 hours that night and although I didn't really feel tired while we were visitng the Taal volcano I was falling asleep very quickly in the car. We got to the Taal lake around noon, we had a drink in a restaurant and then we sailed to the island. We had to ride a horse to the top of the mountain, the road was very steep. When we got to the top we took many photos and we admired the amazing view. It would have been possible to go down to the lake and swim in a sulphur water but it would take much time so we decided not to go there.

On the way down it was windy and the road was very dusty. I had to lean back so much that I was almost lying on the horse. There was a traffic jam on the way to Manila and we got there around 7pm. I was supposed to meet my old friend who studied with me at the Wageningen university and we met at the Bacolod Chicken Inasal at Glorietta Mall. The dinner was good, I ordered a fried chicken. Then we went to a bar and my host showed me a food speciality from Manila, it was an unborn chicken which was cooked inside an egg. It looked disgusting because it felt inappropriate to cook a chicken which was already developing, but I tried it and it tasted like egg.
My host was busy on Sunday and I visited Intramuros, I took a metro and then I hired a rikshaw, I paid 200 pesos per half an hour. I went to a cathedral and also the Fort Santiago and afterwards I went to a park to see the Rizal monument. Then I returned to my host and he cooked spaghetti bolognese for me and in the evening he took me to the airport because I had to catch my flight to Brunei. I spent a good time in Philippines and the Taal volcano was a wondeful place.

Taipei is only 600 km far from Okinawa and the flight took around one hour. I set up a meeting with a girl from CS at the Taipei main station at 11am, but I managed to get a bus from the airport very quickly and I arrived there too early. While riding the bus I saw mountains and also old houses which looked quite poor. I waited at the train station for 45 minutes until Theresa and her sister arrived. I put my suitcase in a left-luggage office and we took a metro to the Tamsui district. The weather in Taipei was quite the same as in Okinawa, around 23-24°C, partly sunny, partly cloudy. When we got to Tamsui we bought a milk bubble tea which was very popular in Taipei. Tea was good but I didn't really like the starch balls. Afterwards we went for a lunch in some local restaurant and then we walked to the Fort San Domingo.

My camera was running out of battery because the plugs in Taiwan are different from the ones in Europe and I didn't have an adapter so I could take only a few photos. After visiting the fort we walked on the Tamsui river shore and we went to a shopping district. I tasted an egg which was hard boiled in a black tea. Then we visited a shop with sweets, there was free tasting so I tried many cakes, some of them were delicious while the others I didn't like. Then we returned to the Taipei main station. I found a host on CS and we were supposed to meet at the Ximen station at 7pm and then I scheduled a meeting for my friends in the Modern Toilet restaurant. I waited at the Ximen station for half an hour but my host didn't come. Later I found out that he mistook the date of my arrival, he thought I was going to arrive on 7th November instead of 6th. I tried to call him many times from the public phone but he didn't answer. I left the Ximen station at 7.30pm, but by the time I reached the Modern Toilet restaurant my friends had already left. I wasn't particularly angry that my host didn't arrive but I was very upset about not being able to meet my friends. Then I tried to figure out what to do, I was walking in Taipei and tried to find an internet cafe, it was very difficult because there were not many of them and I had to pull my suitcase. I was passing some hostels on my way, but I decided not to go there before I talk to my host and my friends. Finally I found an internet cafe and my old friend who studied with me at the Wageningen university in Netherlands invited me to stay at her home for one night. I took a taxi to the Neihu district, I reached her home around 10pm. Her husband bought for me a chicken and rice and we had a talk until midnight and then we went to sleep.
In the morning I met Theresa again and we walked in a city, we took a photo of Taipei 101 skyscraper and we went to a Hong Kong restaurant. I ate ice cream with red beans.

Early in the afternoon we travelled to a district with restaurants which offerred turtle and snake meat. We bought a snake soup with ginger flavour. I was surprised that the snake meat tasted like fish and it had also many bones. Then we ate turtle soup but I didn't like the taste because it was dark meat and similar to beef. Afterwards Theresa had to leave and I went to the Beitou hot springs. The entrance was very cheap and the place was crowded, there were mostly local people. They were friendly and I talked to some of them. There were several pools with thermal water, one pool was with a cold water, the other one had around 35-38°C and the last one 42-45°C which was terribly hot, I couldn't stay inside the water. I just sat down and I had to go out immediately. I spent there only one hour, then I had to go to Ximen to meet the guy who was supposed to host me. We went to the Modern Toilet restaurant, I ordered pasta and ice cream, but the food was average. Then we walked to the Main station and I took a bus to the airport to take a flight to Manila. 

My flight to Okinawa departed at 9am from the Narita airport on November 3rd. Soon after we took off I saw the Mount Fuji on the right side of the plane. There was an American woman sitting next to me who worked for military and she has been living in Okinawa 34 years. She told me many interesting things about Okinawa and she showed me photos on her phone. Our flight lasted 3 hours and when we landed I ate noodles at the airport. I don't remember the exact price but it was around 700 yen. I had a contact with a guy from CS who was from the Czech Republic and he has been living in Okinawa since 2005. He does research at the university and he married a Japanese woman. He invited me to a party in a hotel at Makishi with a buffet and free liquor tasting. We had a drink firstly in a cafe nearby and I ordered a milk tea. I drank a lot of milk tea in Japan and I liked it although I am not used to drinking it here in Prague. Then we went to a party and his wife sang there. In the evening I had to return to the airport because my hosts just returned from the trip in Tokyo. I was hosted in Okinawa by an American couple. I had only 2 days to visit Okinawa but I had a good time. On Tuesday my host took me to the aquarium in the north of the island where I watched a dolphin show and I saw many sea animals including whale sharks. It was around 24°C in Okinawa, when it was sunny it was hot, but when it was cloudy and windy it was cold and I had to wear a sweater.

After visiting the aquarium I found out that the public transportation in Okinawa was scarce and I couldn't find any bus which would take me to the south of the island. I had no choice but to hitchhike. It took around 20 minutes until a car stopped. The driver was around 70 years old guy and there was also a young woman with him, she could be around 25-30. They asked me where I wanted to go and I said hotel Moonbeach. They took me there, but the guy spoke only a little English and the girl didn't speak English at all. There was a nice beach at the hotel with white sand, water was warm, around 25°C, I spent one hour in the sea. There were many Japanese people swimming but all of them wore neoprene. My host came to pick me up and we watched the sunset. Afterwards we had dinner in a restaurant, I had a soup with egg and noodles, fried shrimps and rice. In the evening we watched a horror movie Saint Ange.
The following day I wanted to go to a beach on the Pacific coast. My host told me that the beaches on the East China coast were much more beautiful and that was certainly true, but I wanted to see the Pacific ocean. My host took me to a beach in the south of the island. The beach was completely empty. I swam in the sea but the water was colder than the day before and I spent only 10 minutes in the water. Then I wanted to go to Naha but there was no bus around and I had to hitchhike again. It took around half an hour until a guy picked me up. He was around 50 and he spoke English well. He took me to Makishi where I walked in a market and I then I had a lunch in a restaurant. I ate cuttlefish noodles and a mango pudding. Then I took train to the Shuri castle. It was already late afternoon when I got there, I walked in a garden next to the castle and I watched a sunset.

Then I returned to Makishi where I met my hosts and we went to restaurant for dinner. We ordered tacos with chips. Afterwards we bought some Japanese sweets in a supermarket. Most Japanese sweets were made of rice and red beans. Then we watched the horror movie The taking of Deborah Logan. I left Okinawa on 6th November early in the morning when I took a flight to Taipei.

When my boss approved 3 weeks holiday in November for me I immediately knew that I would travel to Asia again. There were cheap flight tickets available to many Asian countries and I decided to buy a flight ticket to Tokyo because the return ticket costed only 500 Eur. I left Prague on 30th October in the evening, I changed a plane in Paris and then I flew to Tokyo with Air France. The flight was good, I managed to sleep for some hours, I watched the movie Changeling with Angelina Jolie and I had a talk with a Japanese guy who was sitting next to me. We got a meal twice during our flight, firstly potatoes with chicken and then potatoes with spinach. I stayed in Tokyo with a Japanese guy who I hosted in Slovakia in June 2012. I arrived in Tokyo on 31st October around 7pm and my host picked me up from the airport. We travelled to his home in Asakusa. His room was very small, there was only a space for a mattress and a table. The following day it was raining a lot. We went to the Sensoji temple which was close to his home. We got free green tea and I was lucky to see a ceremony which occurs only once a year. There were many children wearing kimono and I took pictures with them.

Afterwards we visited Shibuya where we saw Provenance of the Bourgogne Wine for Consecration at Meiji Jingu. Then my host took me to manga quarter called Akihabara with shops where people played gaming machines. In the evening we went to a Tokyo tower but it was still rainy and we didn't go up.

On Sunday the weather was much better. It was warm enough to wear summer clothes all day. In the morning we went to the gardens next to the Imperial palace. 

Afterwards we visited a market, war museum and in the evening we had sushi for dinner. I left Tokyo on Monday morning when I took a flight to Okinawa.

I had a hard time to decide where to travel in September because I got a 2-week holiday. My initial idea was to travel to Greece because I have been planning to go there for some years already but finally I chose Tunisia because I considered it more exotic. I bought a trip from a travel agency with my friend and we left Prague on 9th September in the evening. We arrived in Tunisia at midnight and we reached our hotel in Nabeul around 1am. We stayed in a hotel Pyramides which was by the sea. After our arrival we were given a room on the ground floor where we found a big cockroach immediately. My friend wasn't satisfied and he bribed a guy at the reception desk with 10 Eur to give us a better room. We had a half board and we were satisfied with the food, there of a wide variety of different meals. For breakfast we got pancakes, marmalade and different kinds of cakes and bread. We could drink tea, juice or coffee. In the evening there was rice, potatoes, pasta, couscous, meat, salads, fruit and dessert, but the drinks weren't free. 

First days we spend just on the beach and at the swimming pool by the hotel. The beach was just by the hotel but it wasn't particularly clean or interesting. The parasailing was available on the beach, it costed around 30 Eur per two people, my friend wanted to try it but I didn't find a courage. I got a Tunisian SIM card because I needed to send SMS to couchsurfers who I was supposed to meet in Tunisia.

On Thursday evening we went for a walk in the evening and we entered by mistake a Tunisian wedding. There was a bride dressed in a golden garment and her hands were painted with henna. Everybody was dancing and we were offered lemon juice. 

We went to Hammamet on Friday which was only 10 km far from Nabeul. Hammamet was more interesting, we went to medina where we bought souvenirs and then we went to the archeological site, there were Roman baths. It was very hot and sunny and I got a suburn.

Our travel agency offered a trip on Sunday for around 40 Eur per person to Tunis, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said. The trip was only for the Czech people with a Czech speaking guide. Our guide was a woman in her 50's who married a Tunisian man and she has been living in Tunisia 30 years already. She told us many interesting stories about Tunisian history, culture and habits. Firstly we went to Carthage where we visited archeological sites, museum and theatre. Afterwards we travelled to Sidi Bou Said which is a city painted in blue and white. The architecture and decorations in Tunisia reminded me very much of Morocco, also the ceramics was similar. The city was small but interesting, we visited a museum, market and then we went to a cafe where we drank tea with pine nuts.

Then we continued our journey to Tunis where we had a lunch in a restaurant. There was also a buffet with a variety of food. Afterwards we walked in medina in the center of Tunis and then we went to a supermarket nearby. 

We left Tunisia on 16th September in the evening and we reached Prague at 2am. I had a bad sunburn but I was satisfied with my trip because I visited many interesting places in Tunisia.

My trip to Venice started on May 22nd and lasted 3 days. I travelled there with my friend and we stayed in the hotel Villa Parco on the island Lido. We took a flight from Prague and we arrived in Venice early in the afternoon.We had a lunch in a restaurant, we ordered a pizza, but we didn't find it tasty. Afterwards we walked around Venice for some hours and then we found a boat which took us to the Lido island. We were very tired and we went to sleep at 8pm, we slept 14 hours. The following day my friend was ill, he got angina, so he stayed in a hotel all day and I went to the beach and then I explored the city by myself. 

It was my second time in Venice, I went there for the first time in 1993 but I didn't remember it much. Venice is a beautiful city with amazing architecture. I took many photos and I returned to the hotel in the evening. Then we went to a Chinese bistro for dinner. We both ordered lasagna for 7,5 Eur, but it tasted terrible, it was virtually raw. I got food poisoning and I was sick all night. On Saturday I went to the beach again and then we took a boat to Piazza San Marco and we walked around the city, the weather was beautiful and I got a sunburn.

Our last day in Venice we went to the beach around noon, I put on a lot of sunscreen but my friend got sunburn. Then we bought pizza for the lunch and we returned to Prague by plane in the evening.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur took off at 7am and the journey to Siem Reap lasted 2 hours. I ate some chicken in the plane. After arrival I obtained tourist visa for 20 USD and I met a tuk tuk driver who took me to the Hak's house. I didn't want to stay with CSers in Cambodia because my time was limited and it would have been difficult to adapt my plans to someone else. I found Hak's house on the internet and I decided to stay there because it was cheap and it had many good reviews. I paid 10 USD for one night for a room with air conditioning. Renting a tuk-tuk costed 12 USD per day. It would have been possible to ride to the temples by bike, but I preferred more comfortable way. I was surprised to find out that I could pay with USD everywhere in Siem Reap.
I bought a ticket to the temples for 3 days, the price was 40 USD. The first day I went to the Angkor Wat with the tuk-tuk driver Wong. It was around 30°C that day and sunny, but when we walked towards Angkor Wat the clouds appeared and it started to rain suddenly. We spent some hours walking around and afterwards we returned to the hotel and I slept for some hours.

When I got up it was already evening and I went to a market where I found fish spa, it costed only 3 USD for 30 minutes. I bought two T-shirts and I returned to the hotel where I had Lok Lak chicken for dinner. The following day we went to visit other temples. The guards didn't want to let me enter one temple because I was wearing a short skirt, so we walked around and Wong lifted me up so I climbed the temple from the other side. We took around 700 photos in 3 days, Wong became tired and he said: "one photo one dollar". We bought some coconut juice, Wong had to buy it because the price for tourists was much higher than for the local people. I tried also juice made of the palm tree but I didn't find it tasty. After visiting temples we went to a dam where I swam and I also bought a durian fruit there, but it wasn't good at all. In the evening I had dinner in the hotel, I ate chicken with nuts. Wong took me to the market, we bought some food there and I also bought clothes for 7 USD.

My last day in Cambodia Wong picked me up in the morning and we visited a beautiful pagoda in Siem Reap. There was life of Buddha depicted in pictures on the wall.

Afterwards we went back to Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm and in the evening I had to take a flight to Bangkok. During my stay in Cambodia I had a hay fever which was unpleasant in such a heat and I usually don't have allergy to any plants, so it must have been some tropical plant which caused it.
I stayed in the hotel 48 ville in Bangkok which was close to the Don Muang airport. The staff was friendly and in the morning I went back to the Don Muang airport where I took a free shuttle bus to the Suvarnabhumi airport. The journey took around 50 minutes. Then I took a flight to Hong Kong where I spent some hours walking around Mong Kok. It was 1st December and the temperature was 18°C, everybody except me was wearing winter clothes.

Then I got back to the airport and I took a flight to Dubai and then to Prague. I was tired and I slept for most of the journey. I arrived in Prague on 2nd December in the afternoon.

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Monday 25th November around noon and I had to take a bus to the city center. My host was a Nigerian guy living in Kuala Lumpur. He picked me up at the bus station and we went to the Central market. It was raining a lot so we had to spend there some hours. There was fish spa which I tried for the first time, it was exciting. Afterwards we went to the KL tower, we didn't go on the top, we stayed downstairs and I took photos with parrots there. In the evening we visited Petronas tower, there was a dancing fountain in front of the shopping center.

The following day my host took me to the Batu caves. I bought some durian fruit and I ate it there. The weather was hot that day, around 30°C and we had to climb many stairs to the top.

I bought a wreath made of yellow and blue flowers, but when I climbed to the top I took it off for a while and put it on the ground and a monkey who was nearby stole it and ate it. The caves were worth visiting but I had seen more amazing caves in Europe, the most amazing one was probably Postojna jama in Slovenia. My host had to go to work and I walked around the city alone, I spent some time in shopping centers because there was an air conditioning. I took also many photos, there were Christmas trees everywhere. In the evening I went to a restaurant with my host for dinner, I had rice and chicken.
I spent my last day in Malaysia visiting the city Melaka which is around 100 km far from Kuala Lumpur. It took around 2 hours to get there by bus. When I got there I bought something to eat at the bus station and then I took bus to the city center. I got off at the Christ Church and I continued walking towards the sea, I wanted to go alone but a riksha driver offered to take me around. His name was Bob and we went to the cafe by the sea, we got something to drink and I took a bath. There was a very little lighthouse next to the restaurant. Afterwards we went to another place by the sea where the entrance was forbidden, we swam next to the freighter and a dredger, but the water was shallow and very dirty and the bottom was very muddy. The workers on the freighter were amused to see us swimming there, but soon they called their boss and he kicked us out, but he was apologetic and told us it was a dangerous area. Bob showed me around Melaka, we went to a windmill, then he took me to a Chinese town and we had a dinner, I ordered fried rice with vegetables. Then we went to the bus station and I returned to Kuala Lumpur. I reached my host's place before midnight and I slept only 3 hours because my flight to Siem Reap was leaving at 7am. My host took me to a bus station at night by car and then I took a bus to the airport.

The flight from Bangkok to Singapore with Air Asia lasted around 2 hours and I arrived there on Friday 22nd November. I booked food on the board in advance, it was chicken in pepper sauce and rice, but the food was so spicy that I had to order a bottle of water to be able to eat it. I slept for a while, then we landed and I had to find a way to my host's place in Eunos. It was already late in the evening but I managed to catch the last train from the airport. My host was an Indian guy working in Singapore. We went to a Chinese restaurant where I ordered fried noodles and then we went to this place. The following day my host had some work to do so I went out around noon, I walked to the metro station. It was not particularly hot, around 30°C that day, but the humidity level was extreme which made the weather unpleasant. Singapore was the most humid country in the South East Asia which I visited and it was difficult to adapt to this kind of weather. It was still a rain period while I was there, the first night I was there it rained and then it rained also in the morning, but the afternoon was sunny. I visited the Arab street, I went inside the shops with Arabic clothes, there were many kinds of beautiful clothes and outside I saw many women wearing hijab, but I wondered how they could wear veils and long dresses in such a humid weather.

There was a climatized shopping center nearby and I waited for my host there, then we went to the little India and we found a Spanish restaurant where we had a lunch. Afterwards we met his friend, a girl from Singapore, and we all went to the Sentosa island. My host met some other friends there and they played volleyball while I swam in the sea. The beach was artificial and there was a harbour nearby, but I was happy because it was the first time during my trip when I had the opportunity to swim in the sea. We watched the sunset on the beach and when it got dark we left the island, we had dinner and we went to a bridge in the center.
The following day my host was also busy in the morning and I went out to the hotel Marina Bay. It was a sunny day firstly, but when I got to the hotel the rain came very fast, it was raining heavily for one hour and there was lightning. I had to wait until it stopped raining and then I went to the gardens by the bay. Then my host and his friend came, we had a lunch in a shopping center and we waited for his Dutch friend who worked in the Marina Bay and she took us to the Infinity pool on the rooftop. The view on the skyscrapers was amazing, there was also a jacuzzi on the other side of the rooftop with the view on the gardens. We spent some hours there and we took many photos, then it got dark and lights on the buildings were turned on which was also astonishing. After we left the Infinity pool we had dinner and I drank a coconut juice and then we went to my host's place. I had to go to sleep early because my flight to Kuala Lumpur was on Monday morning.

When I got on the plane in Hong Kong I was already so tired that I fell asleep already before we took off, but I managed to sleep only one hour because of the flight attendants serving food. The flight to Bangkok took 3 hours and we landed around midnight. Because the Sunvarnabhumi airport was far away from the city I decided that it was better to book a hotel nearby and continue travelling to the city the following day in the morning. I wasted around one hour at the airport in order to get a shuttle bus to the hotel, its name was Convenient Resort Bangkok Sunvarnabhumi airport and one night costed around 15 Eur. Finally I had to take a shared taxi to the hotel, I paid 150 Baht (around 4 Eur). I got there late at night, it was around 1:30am. The staff at the reception desk looked friendly but either they didn't speak English well or they spoke with such a strong accent that it was difficult for me to understand them. I appreciated a lot when I got to the bed after such an exhausting journey. I was satisfied with the room, I ever had an air conditioning there but I turned it off because it disturbed me. 

When I got up and I had to connect on the internet to find out a way to my host. There was a woman at the reception desk who spoke English well, but she was very unfriendly and every time I asked her something she made it clear I was bothering her. I was going to the Pinklao shopping center to meet a couchsurfer there for lunch, I wanted to take a taxi, but the driver told me that the price was 800 baht which I didn't agree with so he took me to the airport and I found a bus there. I spent more than one hour in order to get to the Pinkalo shopping center, I had a lunch there with a couchsurfer and then I took a bus to the Silom area, I stayed with an Indian couchsurfer in the hotel Mahonra. I got there in the evening when it was already dark, we didn't have any plans but we got some food in the local restaurant nearby and then my host introduced me his Indian friend and we went to see the ping-pong show. Regarding the fact that it is a sensitive topic I am not going to give much details (most people who have visited Thailand know what it is about or they can find it on the internet). My host told me there were a lot of scams but we chose a relatively good place where we paid the entrance 300 baht and then we were supposed tips for each performace. However, it didn't really leave any impression on me. I read reviews where people claimed that they found this kind of performace shocking or humilitiang, but I didn't find anything particular there, the lights were dim and I didn't get to see much as well as there were many people around and it was noisy.

The following day my Indian host was working but his friend took me to the Grand Palace, the ticket costed 500 baht. It was a beautiful place, we took many photos and afterwards we went to a vegetarian restaurant. The Indian guy, who accompanied me, told me he never ate meat, but in this restaurant I can find many vegetables prepared like meat. We ordered something which was supposed to taste like crab, but the taste actually didn't remind the taste of meat. The food was too spicy for me, but I ate it because I was hungry, however it was a mistake because I was sick for the rest of the day. Then I returned to the hotel to meet my host, he invited some couchsurfers there and later we joined a couchsurfing meeting and we played pool.

My host and his friend were both busy on Thursday, so I ventured out by myself, I found a tuk-tuk, the driver took me to the shop with clothes and jewellery and then I wanted to go to the China town to get durian fruit. I got a lot of attention while eating durian, some tourist made a comment that I was brave, but I found it delicious and I didn't mind the smell at all. Here is the video of me eating durian fruit.

When I got to the port I took a ferry on the other side of the river, I walked aimlessly for some time but then I decided to take a tuk-tuk to the Kao San Road because someone told me that I could find a fried scorpion there. When I got there I bought a scorpion for 50 baht (it was overcharged price, the proper one would be around 20 baht). I also got a lot of attention there, this is the link to the video where I am eating fried scorpion. The taste was nothing special, it was just salty. Then I bought fried noodles also for 50 baht and I found other kinds of fried insects for 20 baht, I also tried that one. I returned to the hotel then and my host took me to a meeting in some disco club, where he introduce me a film-maker. 

On Friday I had still some time in the morning because my flight to Singapore was leaving around 6pm, so I wanted to some other temples but the taxi driver didn't speak English well and he took me to some remote area of Bangkok. There was nothing interesting, only a market and a shopping center, so I spent some time watching fruit, vegeatables and sea food on the market and then I had to take a taxi to a hotel. My flight was leaving from the Don Muang airport, I was afraid I wouldn't make it on time due to the traffic jam but it took only one hour to get there because we were driving on the highway. 

The flight from Dubai to Hong Kong lasted 7 hours. The plane was half empty and I had two seats for myself so I hoped that I would be able to sleep during the flight, but at the end I managed to sleep only 2 hours, because the flight attendants were serving dinner and then also breakfast and they woke me up. I was worried because it was already the second night when I slept only a few hours and I had all day to visit Hong Kong. We landed at 5:35am on Monday November 18th, then I spent some time at the airport, there were many people waiting in the line at the border control so it was already after 7am when I passed it. I changed my clothes, I had bought Chinese clothes in the oriental shop Kokoro before I left Prague, but I didn't see anybody else in Hong Kong wearing traditional clothes. When I met Ernest he told me that this kind of clothes were worn only for celebrations there but I shouldn't jump ahead in my story.
I found a taxi which took me to the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car, but I got there before 8am and it was opening at 10am so I had nothing to do for 2 hours. I walked around a bit, I saw people on the street exercising tai chi, but it was a bit cold in the morning so I went to the big shopping center nearby. I found groceries, I was surprised to see dried fish and sea food there (I could smell it already before seeing it), I bought some bread with cheese and I went to shops with clothes. I got back to the cable car before 10am, but there were already too many people standing in the line. It took me around 45 minutes to buy a ticket for the crystal cabin, the return ticket costed 213 Hong Kong dollars (around 20 Eur). The journey in the crystal cabin was exciting because the bottom was made of glass, it was scary to look down and see trees and a river. There were around 6 or 8 people with me in the cabin, I met two girls from Philippines and after we reached the top we walked together to the Ngong Ping Village and then to the Buddha statue. There were many stairs and it was difficult to go up. When we got there it was already around noon, the weather was beautiful and warm, 25°C, we had a good view on the mountains surrounding the statue and also on the monastery. I took many photos and a video, here is the link: Buddha statue.

Then we walked to the Wisdom Path with wooden steels with carved Chinese signs. After we returned to the Ngong Ping Village where I ate fish balls and I had to go back to the cable car because I was supposed to meet Ernest (a friend of someone from CS). During the ride back the cabin was empty, I took some more photos, then I went to the metro station and I met Ernest at Tsim Sha Tsui promenade. While we walked to the Avenue of stars I admired the skyline of Hong Kong, thinking it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I regretted a bit for the rest of my trip that I didn't spend more time in Hong Kong because it was more much more beautiful than most of the places I visited afterwards (but Siem Reap in Cambodia was also a wonderful place). We took a ferry to the Hong Kong island, but two almost sleepless nights started to take their toll on me, I was becoming very tired and I felt pain in my legs and back. When we got out of the ferry I was shocked because I saw a young woman begging there, her face and ear looking badly burnt, but Ernest told me it was some kind of fungus that disfigured her face. Then we walked to the Hong Kong Park and after we took a narrow old-fashioned tram to the cable car which was supposed to take us to the peak, but there were so many people waiting in the line that we didn't have time to wait. It was already around the sunset and I was so exhausted that I almost couldn't walk, so we went to some small restaurant where Ernest ordered some vegetables and also a big plate of soup. It was almost the same soup which I used to eat sometimes in the Vietnamese market in Prague, with spice, meat, vegetables and noodles. After the dinner I pulled myself together a bit, we walked to the metro station and I had to return to the airport to catch my flight to Bangkok. I returned to Hong Kong again on the way back to Prague on December 1st, I visited Mong Kok, but I will describe it later in order to keep my posts in a chronological order.

My trip in Asia started on Saturday November 16th when I took a flight from Prague to Bangkok. I decided to fly with Emirates although it was not the cheapest option but I liked the itinerary because it provided me with the possibility to visit additional two countries. I left Prague around 4pm and the flight lasted 6 hours which means that I arrived to Dubai at 1am. The flight attendants served food, I had chicken and we could choose free drinks, I was surprised that also the alcoholic ones were also free. I got a transit visa for 3 days with Emirates and I passed the border controls smoothly, the officer didn't have any questions about my stay in Dubai but he asked me about the Czech football player Pavel Nedved. I found a host on CS and he picked me up at the airport. We were driving in the city, then we stopped to have a drink in some fast food, my host ordered French vanillla coffee, I usually don't drink coffee, but this one was good. Then we drove to the hotel Atlantis in the Palm Jumeirah. The guards didn't want to let us enter the hotel but my host told them that we were going to book a room there so we were allowed to go in. There was a huge aquarium with many kinds of fish, we took many pictures and I also made a video.

After visiting the hotel Atlantis we went to my host's home in Discovery Gardens. It was still warm although it was very late at night, the temperature was around 25°C. We went to sleep very late and I managed to sleep only 3 hours. When we got up in the morning my host took me to the Ibn Battuta mall which was close to his home, there was some Indian and Chinese architecture inside. We took some photos but my host was in hurry because he had to go to Abu Dhabi and I had to take a metro to the Dubai mall. I booked a ticket to Burj Khalifa in advance which is the highest building in the world but unfortunately there was a sand storm that day so the view from the top wasn't good and I could barely see the hotel Burj Al Arab in the distance.

I spent around one hour on the top, but I didn't find the view amazing due to the bad weather. Then I went back to the mall, there were many shops, waterfall, aquarium, skating ring and also the ski slope. I walked around for some time but then I had to take a metro to the airport because my flight to Hong Kong was leaving at 18:30. When I was in metro a woman spoke to me, she asked me if I was a crew, I said no and she said she was from Egypt and she was a crew. When I gave her my flight number she was able to see the details of my flight on her phone. I arrived at the airport two hours before departure. I felt a bit embarrassed about my stay in UAE, I admit that one day in Dubai is not sufficient to know it well but I found it overrated. It might be worth visiting for the people who want to spend a lot of money there and enjoy the megalomania of this city, but in my opinion it doesn't have many things to offer to a common traveller. Although there are many skyscrapers it is still a desert with a very hot climate for most of the year. However, my next destination Hong Kong was one of the most beautiful places which I have ever seen.

After I returned from Mallorca I didn't stay in Prague for a long time because after a few days I travelled to Budapest. I left Prague on 27th September around midnight, I took a night train to Budapest and I arrived there around 8am on Saturday. I walked from the Keleti train station to the Wombat hostel where I stayed one night with a friend. The weather was wonderful on Saturday, it was sunny and around 20°C. We walked in the city center with my friend and then we had a dinner in a restaurant. The following day my friend left Budapest and I met a Pakistani guy Usman from couchsurfing at the train station. I thought I would leave Budapest on Sunday and go to Slovakia but I changed my mind and I stayed in Budapest 2 days longer. We went to the castle and to the center and then to a Turkish restaurant. Usman was working on Monday so I visited the city alone in the morning but in the afternoon we went to the thermal baths Szechenyi. There were many pools with hot water, especially the outdoor pool with the stream was exciting. It got colder and it was only around 13°C that day but the water in the pool had 34°C . There were some French high school students with their teacher so we had some conversation with them. I left Budapest on Tuesday and I returned to Prague by the Student Agency bus.

I travelled to Budapest again with my mother on Thursday 23rd January 2014. We stayed in the Animation City hostel next to the Vaci utca. It was good to stay in the center, the hostel was cosy and the room for two people costed around 70 Eur for three nights. We used to eat in the Turkish restuarants, there are many of them in Buapest and the food is cheap and tasty. On Friday and Saturday we went to the thermal baths Szechenyi. On Friday it was slightly above 0°C and on Saturday it was -4°C. The outdoor pools were amazing but crowded, there was a lot of steam going out from the pool. The baths were very crowded on Saturday and there was ice next to the pool so I slid there and fell but nothing happened to me. On Sunday we returned to Prague with the Eurolines bus.

Last year I had a hard time to decide where to travel because I couldn't take holidays from work during summer. I wanted to visit Greece at first but then my trip was cancelled and I decided to go back to Mallorca. I left Prague on September 17th and I returned on September 25th. I stayed in Arenal with the same host who I visited already in November 2012. My stay in Mallorca was good, the weather was nice and warm, around 26-28°C, my host lived next to the beach so I went to swim every day. I used to visit Palma often and walk around the city. My host was very busy working in his travel agency and I decided to travel to Ibiza for 2 days. I took a ferry from Palma on Sunday 22nd September at 8am. As I had to be there one hour before departure I had to get up around 5am, catch a bus to Palma and then take a ferry. I couldn't find a host on couchsurfing in Ibiza therefore I had to book a room in the hotel Piscis Park which was in the north of the island.

After arriving to Ibiza I took a bus to the city and when I was walking towards the castle I met an Indian guy who lived in USA. We took some photos and he accompanied me to the castle. It was a hot day, around 30°C. We wanted to find a beach but we were told by the locals that there were no beaches around so we went to eat something and after we found a bus which would take us to the beach.

When we got to the beach in the south of the island we found out immediately that it was a nude beach, but the sea was full of dirt. There were many sea plants and small pieces of wood. I went inside for a little while but it was almost impossible to swim in it. So we just sat on the beach for some hours and took sun and then we went back to the city where we had a dinner in an Indian restaurant. I ordered Pokhara butter chicken which was chicken breast in curry sauce and it was very tasty. Then we took a bus to the north of the island to go to my hotel, but the security guard didn't let my friend enter the hotel so he had to take a bus to his hotel. I walked alone along the beach in the night, there were many people partying in the clubs but I didn't feel like going there alone so I returned to the hotel. One night in the hotel Piscis Park costed 23,70 Eur which I found adequate. The breakfast was included in the price. In the morning I walked around the city and I swam in the sea next to the port. The sea was clean and I stepped on an octopus while swimming which scared me a bit. Then I went back to the south of Ibiza to meet my Indian friend and we walked to the castle again and he accompanied me to the bus which took me to the ferry. The ferry left Ibiza at 8pm and I returned to my host in Mallorca late in the evening.
The following day I took a flight to Madrid where I had to stay during the night. I had a host from Sri Lanka who studied PhD. in Spain. We went to a Chinese buffet all you can eat for 10 Eur and I took enormous amount of food, including shrimps, noodles, sushi, fish, different kinds of seafood and also a dessert.

We spent a pleasant evening walking around the city, I already knew the places which we visited because this was my second time in Madrid, I had already been there in February 2012 for 2 days. Then we drank sangria and we returned home around midnight. The following day I took a flight to Prague.

It has been already one year since I last posted to my blog. I was quite busy with my new job and I didn't travel anywhere until September 2013 except one short trip to Slovakia at the end of April, then I went to Mallorca and Ibiza for one week in the middle of September, then I spent 3 days in Budapest at the end of September and in the middle of November I took vacations for 2 weeks and I crossed 6 countries in Asia during this time. I visited many interesting places while some others I found rather disappointing. I spent one day in Dubai, one day in Hong Kong, 4 days in Bangkok, 3 days in Malaysia and Cambodia and 2 days in Singapore. I returned to Prague at the beginning of December and it was hard for me to adapt myself again to the climate because in Asia it was around 30°C while in Prague there was snow and the temperatures around 0°C. I will give more details about my travels in my next posts. Now I am in Prague, I still have my job, I work as a phone operator in an assistance service in an insurance company, but now it is not so interesting as before, it is more about routine and stereotype. However, it is difficult to tell how long I will still work there because I haven't decided yet where I would like to move in the future.