England/ Czech Trip - Day 5 (Mooncake Festival)

The view while we were travelling to town

Grocery shopping!

Picking up vegetables we haven't seen before

Looks like we're unloading, right? But only pretending! We were posing for the camera :p

Rene brought us up to the woods to take a walk

It was absolutely freezing at that high altitude. Besides it was raining a lot in Czech. The temperature there then should have been about 4 degrees celsius.

Mum & Meg

That's Godma Sandy - I can't wait to see her in Hong Kong soon!

It's so romantic to take a walk through the woods. It's enough to make 2 persons fall in love with each other again. But then again of course we weren't totally in the correct mood with the whole ging gang there.

I love the beautiful array of greens, yellows & reds. A pity it's only the beginning of autumn & the leaves were just starting to turn red, or else the sight would have been more breathtaking.

Ken wasn't exactly dressed the part for walking in the freezing woods

In the end, both Ken & Meg retired to the car early because of the freezing cold. On hindsight, they could have been driven to the car by sheer boredom as well since the rest of us went ga-ga taking photos after photos :p

Erykca & I are so into taking emo pics. Haha~

Even mum joins in. She even borrowed Godma's hat! A pity the photo is too blurred. All of us had such a good laugh taking the photos.

It's Mooncake Festival! We knew that we would be celebrating it in Czech & hence went well prepared with luggages stocked with mooncakes, chinese tea, barbecued pork & lanterns. We had loads of fun lighting up the lanterns & hanging them all over the garden. Such a pretty sight!

We invited Rene's dad & his girlfriend to join us in celebrating the festivity

Like I mentioned before, it's been raining so we didn't get to see the moon :(

It was so cold that night (way colder than the woods) & I was bundled up unflatteringly like the abominable snowmanOther than chinese tea, we were also drinking, beer, red wine & champagne. But then again, we were drinking beer, red wine & champagne every night! Rene's dad had plenty of alcohol in the house & we were to help ourselves to it. So you'll find us sitting outdoors whenever possible, enjoying the drinks. It's amazing we didn't turn into alcoholics! :p

All of us looking good & happy :DDD

After the garden party ended, we adjourned inside the house to watch mum do a trial bridal make-up for Uniz. Did I mention that mum is a beautician & a make-up artist?

England/ Czech Trip - Day 4 (Karlovy Vary)

It was after midnight by the time we reached Rene's house. As all was dark, we couldn't see much of the surroundings. So when morning came, we were astounded by the view. We were greeted with the most spectacular scenery. We were high up in the mountain & we saw nothing but trees & plains in multitudes of greens. As it's the start of Autumn, the leaves were starting to turn red. I was so in awe by the view.

Rene stays in a town called Karlovy Vary which is about 2 hours drive from Prague. The house has a huge compound & is situated high up in the mountains

That's Rene's dad. He was extremely hospitable. He has 2 houses & he lets us have a free run of 1 of them.

That's the house that Rene & his dad was staying in, across the road while we were there.

We were all so thrilled at the sight of an apple tree

Meg is picking apples from the tree. She likes climbing trees. (As per dictated by Meg, while she sits besides me :p)

And of course now my turn to pose with the tree

Chopping firewood is really no easy task but Rene's dad made it look so easy

Went into Karlovy Vary town for some shopping but I wasn't there cos I went with Uniz to run some errands

Ken sweetie

Mummy

And Erykca who loves to pose

It doesn't make sense to drink soft drinks cos it costs more than beer

Finally we're back to join the group at the end of the day

Back to the house in the evening & it's photo taking time!

It's simply awesome that this breathtaking view is right there in your own backyard

Erykca said she thought of a pose & asked me to look straight & smile. I stupidly obeyed her!

Ken's sitting on this bench right outside the house. We spent alot of time sitting out here while we were there. The view is too beautiful to be wasted staying indoors.

No matter how low is the temperature, you can find us sitting out there

It's a pity that Rene's dad can't speak nor understand English for he is such a hospitable man. However we still managed to communicate through gesturing.The slang in Czech for 'hi' is 'ahoy'. So we went around town going ahoy, ahoy ahoy!Everyone was elated when they saw chestnuts in abundance while in town. They started picking them thinking that we can fry & eat them in the night. But we were not the only ones picking the chestnuts. We saw many of their local children picking them too. Rene says it's for the animals in the woods. As winter is approaching & food is scarce, children collects these chestnuts & bring them to school. The school collates them & the wood taker brings it to the wood for the animals. This is so interesting!

You want to know how the chestnuts taste? Awful! Not palatable at all! Haha ........ it's a completely different breed from what we get here locally. No wonder the dad was looking at us strange when we tried eating them :p

Since it's inedible, Meg used them to play games instead

Beef Goulash for dinner but since I can't take beef, I cooked the instant porridge that I brought with me. Haha ...... typical right?

Meg taking pics around the house

Coals for the heater

In the basement putting the coals. Now we have heat for the night :)