Bonjour-Mundo!

That’s right folks, gotta love that sulfur smell. We are currently in Rotorua, about 4 hours south east of Auckland. It’s a place known for its geothermal activity, and boy can you smell it!

As soon as we got off the bus here, we realized we were heading further south, as it is definitely getting colder. We’re going to have to get ourselves some winter coats if the trend keeps up. Today also has been ugly as far as weather is concerned, pouring down rain most of the morning, and now just cold and overcast, looks like payback from all the sunshine we got in Thailand.

But aside from the rain, so far the town has been good to us. Lots of fun shops, a cheap grocery, and a good hostel. We’ve got a bunch of activities that we’d like to do here, so hopefully they will work out.

Today we went to Wai-O-Tapu, known as a “geothermal wonderland”. It was very cool to see, although the pouring rain made it not quite as good as it could have been. First we stopped along the highway to see where the land has broken up from earthquakes.  Our driver pointed out how thin the earths crust is here, apparently only 7km, which we are told is very thin, I guess it’s 30km most other places.

Next we headed to the mud pots. It seemed almost prehistoric. Lots of ferns hanging down and boiling mud pots! Just one huge lake of mud bubbling up and steaming all over. Pretty cool actually.

Then we headed to Lady Knox Geyser. A little disappointing for me. I’ve never seen a real life geyser, but it just wasn’t as cool as I thought it would be. This one goes off at exactly the same time everyday as the park director pours a bit of soap on the opening. Apparently the chemical reaction causes the geyser to go off. Bubbled a bit, then indeed it soared into the air a huge spout of water. But it just seemed a little too scripted to be nature.

Finally we made our way through the rain into the actual park. My favorite part of the whole experience. It felt as though we were walking on Venus or something. The landscape is just surreal. The centerpiece is this huge body of water called Champagne Lake and the artists palate. It boils and fumes and surrounds the whole flat of land in billowing clouds of steam. The area around the lake and the water itself are all sorts of colors due to the minerals dissolved in it. The edge of the bank is a bright orange and a lot of the land appears yellow due to the sulfur. You can even see some reds and parts are bright blue. The rest of the wonderland was also very cool to see taking us past crators, bubbling pools, yellow waterfalls, a huge green lake, and a bright neon green filled craterlake. Too bad I’m not a geology major.

We’ve made it to Kiwi Land! Currently we’re residing in Rotoura, New Zealand, which smells like rotten eggs. However, our trip began in the City Of Sails, also known as Auckland.

Our trip from Thailand to New Zealand was uneventful, but insanely long. We started out in the ugly transit town of Surat Thani, Thailand, where had arrived the previous day by ferry, flew to Bangkok, waited in Bangkok airport for 8 hours, then from Bangkok to Sydney, Sydney to Auckland. All in all, we were probably travelling for about 28 hours. Needless to say, we spent our first evening in New Zealand snugly tucked in our beds. Our long flights though were awesome, props to Emirates Airlines, they measured up to the competion of Qatar. Both airlines kick US airlines butts any day. I couldn’t complain about the 5 course meals we got to chose off a menu, free wine and liquers, hot terry cloth towels, personal video systems with millions of movies, tv shows, video games (that you could play against other passengers!…seriously alex, you missed out, I was sad I couldn’t beat you, if only they had mario kart. 😉 ) , they also had a two cameras, one mounted to show you the view from the cockpit and the other below the plane. Pretty cool for take-off and landing.

Back to New Zealand. So far, I really like the place. In auckland it felt like a nice fall day outside, refreshing after the steaming Thai sun. We got mostly sunshine which was nice, just a few sunshowers that led to great rainbows. Some places had leaves falling from the trees, yet you could walk around the corner and there would be a palm tree, very odd. But Auckland overall I thought was a great city. It’s got the big city feel downtown, lots of big buildings and rush of people, but a 10 minutes walk and you’ve got a charming little suburb town with cute little shops and great restaurants. Walk out a bit from the center of downtown and you face the harbor full to the brim with fancy sailboats.

The first afternoon we made our way up the Sky Tower, kind of a space needle type building in downtown. From the top you can see all over and around auckland, beautiful views of the surrouding countryside, harbor bridge, and islands in the bay. You can tell New Zealand is the adventure capital though, at least twice while we were in the tower, people bungy jumped right off the top!

The second day we took a ferry out to the suburb of Devonport. Really charming town. Lots of cute little shops and cafes, and we hiked up two big hillsides (once volcanoes apparently some hundred thousand years ago) for great views of Auckland and could just sit and watch all the sailboats on the water. Super blue bay, just gorgeous.

 We’ve been looking to catch some world cup action here, but unforunately none yet, just lots and lots of rugby!! The people here are crazy about their rugby.

That’s right folks, it’s said you’re supposed to do something everyday that scares you, so for a day in Ko Tao, I did exactly that. Swam with the sharks!

As I said in the previous post, Ko Tao is known for having some of the best diving in all south east asia, and Em and I decided to experience what it had to offer. Since neither of us have our PADI certification, we were only able to snorkle, but it was well worth it. (PS, if you ever want to get certified, and have a few days, I’d recommend Ko Tao. The island has mountains upon moutains of scuba certification schools, apparently dirt cheap compared to what they are in the states. If we had had more time, I might have done it.)

We booked ourselves for a day long snorkle trip through a store around the block from our hostel. It picked us up in the morning and we didn’t get back until late afternoon. In the trip we got to see all around the island, and were dropped off to snorkel in about 6 or 7 different bays, it was awesome. The fish and the coral were absolutely breathtaking. So many millions of colors, shapes and sized. The water was crystal clear, it was almost as if you were floating on top of an aquarium…which I suppose in a way you really are. You could reach out and almost touch them. Bright yellow, electric neon colors, some that one girl described as rainbow sherbert, all sorts of different colors mixed together. Big ones, small ones, thousands of little ones in a school forming all sorts of shapes as they moved, I swear it looked to be right out of a movie like Finding Nemo. Little shiny ones that looked like a downpour of silver confettii. I was endlessly impressed. At the end of the day we also visited a little collection of three islets, now used primarily as a dive resort. Also really stunning.

And, yes, in one of the bays, black tip reef sharks! I was pretty scared to jump in, but once I actually saw one, I found myself wanting to follow it all through the reef. The bay the sharks were in was quite deep, the sharks swimming down on the bottom and snorkelers floating on the top. The sharks didn’t even pay us any notice. Oh, and just so you all don’t think I’m really super brave…they were little ones, of the three I saw, the biggest might have been about 3 feet, but hey, they’re still sharks!

Sorry it’s been quite awhile since I’ve checked in to update the blog…but now that internet is free, I’ve got a bit of a chance to catch things up. Oh, and for some reason this hostel has macs, and it won’t let me update the maps, so I’ll get to that as soon as I get a pc.

Anyhow, our time in the south of Thailand is fantastic. We had contemplated not even heading to the islands as we had it heard the weather would be bad, but we were blessed with sunshine and blue skies for our entire week, it was awesome. The only day it was semi cloudy we were snorkeling, so it was probably for the best that we didn’t get completely baked.

After our week on two different islands, I’ve one piece of advice for anyone planning a trip to Hawaii, spend the extra few hundred on airfare and book your trip to thailand! What you spend extra on the plane you will make up in amazing beaches that you will have almost entirely to yourself and beachside private bungalows for around 4-8 dollars a night. Your toilet may not be of the flushing variety and your bungalow might come with mosquito net and there likely won’t be a hot shower…but do you need one when it’s a million degrees outside and you’re sunburned?

Em and I first made our way to Ko Phan-Ngan, the middle of the three islands on the Gulf Coast. Yes, it is the infamous island that hosts full moon parties, but we were far, far on the opposite side of the island from Hat Rin, where those parties are. (And there was no full moon when we were there.) Our beach, on of a couple of twin beaches, was called Thong Nai Pan Yai. It was gorgeous. It required an hour long bumpy ride through dirt roads in the back of a pickup to get there, but it was well worth it. Very secluded and undeveloped…no high rise concrete here, (in fact there was no high rise beach resorts anywhere on either island we were on, thank goodness), it was just beachside bungalows, a few hamocs, and white sand beach. We were probably about two out of 20-30 or so that were staying there. During the afternoon just a handful of people were out. The beaches go back into green hillsides covered in palm trees. Rocky outcropping jut into the sea. It was beautiful. The only downfall was our beach faced neither sunrise or sunset.

Thong Nai Pan beaches (Yai and Noi) are both located in little bays, so the water was completely still, just a small tide rolling in. It was wonderful for swimming, but lacked the sound of crashing sea that I love about the ocean. It was also great to run along in the evening once the heat broke.

The second part of our beach trip brought us to the island of Ko Tao, the smallest island of the trio, farthest north. Again, the weather held out and was great. Ko Tao has a few better roads then Phan-Ngan, so it made it easier for Em and I to walk around. We stayed on a beach that was a bit busier, but a 10 minute walk up the road led to a beautiful secluded beach called Ao Thian. A little odd to get to as the sign in front says private property (we first got there by mistake going up the road to far then climbing over a bunch of rocks to get back), but then as you turn the corner there is another sign that says private, directly behind which is a sign that says vistors welcome! this way to the beach. Hmm, ok. So we went, as we didn’t discover it was private until we had climbed over the rocks anyhow. The beach was full of gorgeous white sand, lots of swaying palm trees, bushes for shade, and crystal clear blue water. Still in a bay, so calm like the other beach, but coral formations fairly close to the shore kept us from doing much swimming. Ko Tao is known as one of South East Asia’s best dive sites, so in the next entry, I’ll tell you all about our experiences with that. But when we weren’t diving, lots of relaxing, reading, and just enjoying the amazing scenary were our agenda for the day.

Yes, I know. Cheezy title. Just back from a little ways north we are getting excited to head south tomorrow.

But for now…

Our last day in Chang Mai before Pai went well. It was a recovery day for us involving lots of stress  ;-)…taking our laundry to get done at the super cute laundry lady ($3 for 4 kilos), getting the most wonderful Aromatherapy Oil Massage ($7) and then laying in hamocs reading, and then shopping at the sunday market. A good day. We actually even ventured out in the bar scene later that evening with the two kids we met trekking.

Off to Pai the next morning, a little too early perhaps. But we made it. The ride to Pai was absolutely awful as it was in a packed minibus and involved the most curvy moutain roads possible. Barf.

Once we recovered from the bus ride though, Pai was a great town. I can see how people get stuck there for awhile. It’s almost like a beach town in the mountains if that makes any sense. Extremely laid back, almost a hippy atmosphere in places. The surrounding scenery is gorgous, lots of green everywhere and a nice little river running around the back. We basically spent our time walking around and relaxing, very much needed. We also hiked up to a temple overlooking Pai that was very pleasant. On the first night we went to this really cool little movie house. You pick out a dvd from a big selection and then they’ve got these little living room things with couches and everything set up for movie watching, it was great.

Anyhow, the ride back to Chang Mai was much better. Only a few of us on it, plus we took some dramamene. Tomorrow we are off to the south, hopefully we’ll find some great sun and surf.

Back from a trek in the Thai jungle…and all in one piece! Just one very, very achy piece.

We just got back today from our 3 day 2 night adventure into the wilderness of northern thailand, and it was quite an experience. But a good time overall.

The first day we set out, 13 of us in all, all crammed in the back of a songthaew (large pickup truck with benches on both sides of the back part). Please note: there is not really room for 13 people in the back of a songthaew, especially 13 people with 13 packs. But, it worked, I suppose. In any case, all excited to be in the middle of nowhere in some peaceful jungle, after a brief stop at a market for food, we end up at this little hut and what do we hear…? Loud, pulsating KAROKE! In the middle of the jungle! What? Yes, I’m not really sure about that one either. This kind of put me off at first, what did I get myself into? However, after that, we luckily were not forced to endure anymore thai pop.

On to the trekking. When Em and I signed up for the trek we figured ourselves decently inshape girls. I realize now I, at least, am not in that category. It was HARD! Although we started on decent road, our guide suddenly turned up some crazy hill, and didn’t stop going uphill for the next three hours. Now, for those of you who know me, you know how much I love hills…or really how much they are the bane of my existence. I seriously thought I was going to fall over and cry. Add to this the fact that it began to pour down rain, and now we are soaked and climbed through little tiny sort of paths that aren’t really paths that are straight up and now completely mud. Awesome. Im going to cry some more. Plus, I’m slow, and in the back…they wait for me to catch up, and then go again, I don’t get a break! Oh man.

But, eventually we made it to camp, I was needless to say, extremely excited about this. At the end of the day though, it was worth it. Once I managed to catch my breath, I could see the view, and it was fantastic. Lush green hillsides towering up the clouds, beautiful valleys, the trees along the top of the hills made for amazing sillouettes at dusk. And luckily, no more karoke.

The second day was probably my favorite of the three. Although I was frustrated at first at the pace our guide took, we only hiked with the group for about an hour…then those of us staying on for three days split off, making only four of us. I have found I MUCH prefer small groups. It ended up being em and I plus a girl from australia and a guy from ireland. Very fun people who were really enjoyable to hang out with, and were willing to go slower and enjoy the views. We had a good time talking, and the hike the second day was much less strenuous. We got to stop at some waterfalls and swim, and the falls felt fantastic on a sore back. After the falls we made it to our second camp, much smaller then the first, but pleasant with a river rushing below. We had dinner and enjoyed playing cards and a version of scattegories well into the night. The night of our second day almost deserves an entry on its own, as it was one of the most beautiful I have seen in some time. Unlike the first night, there were absolutely no clouds, and being in the middle of the jungle made for incredible stars. It seemed as though the whole sky was lit up. Add to that the fire flies. Thousands of them. It was almost as if there was some sort of fireworks show going on for us in our little jungle hut. If you can picture a darkened stadium when some great superstar walks in and all the flashbulbs that go off at once, you would have about what it seemed to be.

Our third day involves all the tourist gimics of the trek, but it was still a good time. We rode elephants, which I was hesistant about at first, but was ok with after I saw they seemed to be treated well. They were much nicer then camels in morocco, and we got to feed them bananas as we rode, which was really entertaining as the animals reach behind with their trunk to nab the fruit out of your hand. After the elephants we did a bit of white water rafting, although there really wasn’t any white water, maybe one rapid total. Then they put us on bamboo rafts for a bit in some really grungy river water, and then we were done. Lunch was had, and then back to chang mai.

I’m very glad to be back, and very excited to spend the next couple days letting my body recover. We will be off to Pai, further north, on monday, and then hopefully catching a flight south after that to have fun on some beaches. I hope you all are doing well!

Side note: Emily is better at posting pictures then me, she’s got some pics of thailand up, so if you like, head over to the other bonjour mundo site to check them out.

Chang Mai, Thailand. So far, so good.  

We have been in Chang Mai now for about three days, and it’s been great. It’s definitely a MUCH different vibe then Bangkok, everything is much more relaxed, the air is cleaner, and things just seem to go at a little slower pace…minus the motorbikes, that still speed through town.

We arrived in Chang Mai by train from Bangkok, a 14 hour or so ride, but it hardly seemed like that at all. We each got a nice bed compartment to ourselves, it had AC, and we actually managed to get some decent sleep, much better then busses. (Although not nearly as posh as Qatar Airways, which I forgot to write about in the last post, Check out Em’s blog for more details. (http://bonjour-mundo.blogspot.com )

Anyhow, as we were pulling into the train station, I couldn’t help but think that area reminded me quite a bit of Ecuador, around Tena to be specific for all you MSID folks. Everything is lush and green, ramshackle tin roof houses abound, and the air is heavy with humidity. The sky pours rain at least once a day, but usually just in sporadic downpours, nothing like the constant rain we had in Bangkok. The area surrounding Chang Mai towers with rainforested hills and the clouds seem to just brush the top. A very moody look after a rain.  

In any case, our time here has been filled with exciting times. The first day we got in was probably the most low key of them all. We wandered all over and explored some wats as well as the Sunday Market, awesome stuff, cheap deals. The following day we enrolled ourselves in on official Thai cooking course. So much fun. We went to the Pad Thai Cookery School, just a bit outside the city of Chang Mai. I haven’t eaten so much in quite some time. We got a tour of a local food market, and then they brought us to the kitchen. Our teacher, Noky, was hilarious, such a great sense of humor. She had us all laughing constantly. We got to prepare 5 different dishes, taste exotic thai fruit like the red and spiny rambutan, and enjoy a dessert of fresh mango and sticky rice. Yum! One dish involved creating quite a big flame in the wok (ichiban style) which made for some great pictures. (Soon I hope to be uploaded! But no promises.) They supplied us with a recipie book, so hopefully I can recreate some of the fun at home. Our group at the cooking school was really great to talk to, it was fun to meet some new people from all over (denmark to israel, even one guy from madison!).

The following day was perhaps the most exciting. Our guidebook and hostel had suggested going to see Wat Doi Suthep, a beautiful temple that overlooks the city. However, the best way to get there is by motorbike. This allows you to take your time and stop at the many waterfalls on the way. After lots of coaxing from Alex, we decided to go for it, provided there were helmets provided…not to worry mom. (Emily still not being so sure…) A little nerve racking to learn how to motorbike the first time in Chang Mai traffic, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not too bad. Just a few scary moments. In fact, at the end of the day, I really had a good time zipping about.

Once we got onto the mountain road, we basically had things to ourselves which made driving even easier. We stopped at the falls, really beautiful. Then all the way up to the wat, which was great.  It was gorgeous, and had a patio overlook all of Chang Mai. One of the few days without rain, we had a really clear view of the city and surrounding hillsides. The way down was a little scarier then the way up, but not bad. However once we got back into town, there was a decent amount of traffic and Emily ended up losing Alex and I. Not so good as she was the most unhappy motorbiker of the three. Poor em ended up running into a flower pot on the side of the road and has sworn off motorbikes forever. Hopefully there won’t be a need for them from here on out.

Alex has left today, so, sadly, our adventure team is down to two for the reminder of the time. Boo. 🙁 However, hopefully there will still be many fun times to come. 

Hey there all! We are currently in Chang Mai, Thailand, and it is absolutely awesome. I just got a foot massage for an hour for four dollars and cooked delicious thai food all day long though, so I may be slightly biased. 😉

To start things off though, I should catch you up on Bangkok, the start of our Thai adventure.  The city in itself is quite a place, overwhelming to say the least. It is the largest city in thailand by far, and you certainly can tell from the towering buildings and smog that has settled overhead. Many of the officers that work to control the traffic were masks as protection from all the fumes.

 However, despite the traffic and the honking, and the rush of people, it’s an amazing place to see. I was struck by all the contrasts that exist in the city. From the extreme poverty of the houses along the river to the skyscrapers that erupt in wealth behind them. There are seats reserved on the high tech metro and skytrains for the monks, and just as the monks seem out of place there, so do the people in their western attire as we poke around their temples and shrines. There seems to be a real fusion of modern versus traditional, and its interesting just to sit back and watch.

The Thai people have also been so wonderful throughout our stay so far. The are so full of warmth and seem to be genuinely happy with life.

A few highlights of our time in Bangkok…

FOOD!!! Thai cusine is fantastic (and fantastically cheap!) We have eaten all kinds of noodles and rice and soups and satays and crazy fruit like none you’ve seen before and papaya salads that put a fire to your lips. Its all super tasty, and we generally eat from the street vendors who charge around 50-75 cents for dinner. Can’t complain. Although we haven’t eaten anything too weird yet (minus Alex who we think had soup with steamed chicken blood) we have seen vendors with various fried critters and even some frog kababs…We’ll see how gutsy we get.

We also ate at this wonderful restaurant called Condoms and Cabbages, which deserves a mention. The entire place is decorated in, you guessed it, condoms! They managed to make some really pretty lamps, believe it or not. The premise of the place is aids and safe sex awareness, and it has actually gone a long way to help the AIDS fight in thailand. All the procedes from their shop and the wishing well, and I believe even a portion from their procedes all goes to development and health projects in Thailand. Eating great food turned into a good deed for the day.

WATS! Such a refreshing change from Europe, the Thai temples are amazing to see. We went to the grand palace and temple of the emerald buddah on our first day, and I don’t think we managed to pick our jaws up off the floor for quite some time, it was magical to see. The outer facades are incredibly ornate and detailed, everything is so full of color and sparkle. The architecture is just beautiful.

MARKETS! Markets in Thailand are everywhere, and theyre great. They sell everything and anything: from sarongs to ninja stars to puppies. And they are CHEAP! They have also been nice in that they, at least so far, seem to be free of the pressure of markets like those in Morocco and Senegal. The people let you look without harrassment and you don’t have to haggle nearly as hard.

I have lots more to say, but our time is up for the night…and this post is already long. So I will end it there. I hope you all are doing well!

Vienna! Alex and I finished up Europe with a stop in Vienna. Really wonderful city, and truly full of music of every kind. First thing we heard as we left our hostel for the afternoon was a woman practicing opera…only in vienna.

We wandered our way through the streets and parks, amazing architechture at every turn. Beautiful churches, parliament building, statues, and opera houses.

Three major highlights of our time in Vienna: Boys Choir, Hueriger (Wine Tavern), and an opera at the Statsoper.

Boys Choir: Alex and I managed to catch a performance of the world famous Vienna Boys Choir, and it was fantastic. Man can they sing. It was not anything at all like I thought it would be however. First, we got to the church at the crack of dawn, not quite as necessary as our guidebook made it out to be…but we were first in line. We ended up with standing room tickets, which was perfect for us as we were right in the front and center, and didnt pay a dime. I think this may have irked the man who was in line to pick up tickets with us, he was very proud at buying his 6 months in advance for 39 euro.

The boys sing in a little tiny chapel, nothing grand by any means, but its a packed house. You have to actually endure a mass in german, which ended up being more of a cultural experience for me as I a. dont speak german b. am not catholic.  The boys also are heard but not seen. They perform from high up in the choir room which is located where an organ normally would be in a cathedral, behind the people in a little balcony. Although it was odd not to see the mouths creating the song, it was almost as if the music was drifting down from the heavens (sorry cheesy, but really it was). At the end of the mass, the choir was brought down front for one last number, and I had to laugh at how dopey the boys were. Just greasy haired, really little, goofy kids, but their voices were truly incredible.

Huierger: One of my favorites of our vienna trip. Alex and I took the metro and then a tram way out of the city center to get to one of these little wine taverns. They are little places tucked away on tree filled residential streets, many known only to the neighborhood people they serve. I felt like I was walking into someones backyard, and basically I was. Lots of trees and picnic tables spread all over the lawn and we walked through the little porch to get into the quaint dining room run by two little women who didn’t speak more then a few words of english.

The idea behind the wine taverns is that everything served there must be made at the house by the family. All the food, wine, meats, and bread are homemade. We got plates of potatoe salad (but not like the american kind, no mayo), fresh roast meat slices, and fresh bread with various spreads of cheese and garlic that put cafe latte spreads to shame. We also had lots of the house wine which was delicious and instead of being served in a wine glass is given in more of a beer mug, lots of fun. The women running the place were incredibly sweet and were thrilled to have some young tourists. They even gave us little chocolates as we left.

Last but not least: The opera. Although originally I had wanted to see Romeo and Juliet, we found the line for standing room started before 11am for a 7pm show. Umm, yeah, not so up for that. So we decided to go the next night which ended up being two small operettas. Osud and Le Ville.  We got there a couple hours before the show, and got standing room, with bars to lean on, on the main floor in the center for 3.5 euro a piece, awesome deal.

It was my first time at the opera, so I didn’t quite know what to expect, but it was a fun experience. The first opera was WEIRD. An opera about a guy writing an opera. I had more fun wathcing the titles on the screen then the actual opera. The words used were pretyt ridiculous and beyond over dramatic…Worth a snicker. The second one was great. An opera by puccini of madame butterfly fame. The music was fantastic and the story much better to follow. The singers were also incredible. Although the background was of a lot of guys bodies repeating wearing tree covered tshirts and boxers and combat boots (didn’t really understand that part). But hey, you can’t understand everything in art I suppose.  

Buda + Pest + Danube River dividing them = the Hungarian capital

1 in 4 Hungarians live in the capital (meaning that we can generalize with impunity based on solely our experience there)

1 Gestapo HQ + 1 KGB HQ = the House of Terror, about the most terrifying place I’ve ever seen live.  The entry way was a real Soviet tank, placed on a pedastal of dripping machine oil with a background of pictures of the victims holding their serial number, lining the walls from ceiling to floor.  We got a chance to experience the holding cells and the punishment cells (for instance, one was built to be only 2 feet tall so you could never stand, and another was only big enough to stand in, with light bulbs at eye level).  We also saw the gallows and a chilling video from the man who cleaned the mess afterwards providing the details. 

200 Forints = 1 US dollar = USA living large.  For instance we ate at a very trendy (and Chino Latino like) restaurant for around 15 dollars a person for a four course meal apiece.  Hostels or houses were about 10 dollars per night per person. 

It also was much more of a city that people actually lived in rather than an old section set aside for tourists and public housing for the locals, like Prague.

Loved it.