First Tunisia, Now Egypt, and Who is Next?......

Pakdokter has commented in an earlier posting about the possibility of other regimes in the Middle East collapsing like a domino after what happened in Tunisia and it looked like it is becoming a reality.

And pakdokter believes the American and European powers are all to be partly blamed for they have supported these regimes for years and ignoring the abuse of human rights and the pervasive corruption of the leaders of these military dictators and sheikhdoms who have neglected the welfare of its people.

One Arab Political Analyst interviewed on BBC correctly commented that the western powers have completely 'misread' the Arab people - thinking that the Arab people will not be able to start an uprising of this proportion. Pakdokter would like to quote his description of the Arabs - "the Egyptians Write, the Lebanese Publish and the Iranians Read ". This to pakdokter is a testimony to the fact that the western powers have underestimated the level of intellect of the Arab population as a whole, thinking ( and probably hoping ) that the suppression and repression inflicted by their governments would continue keep them partly in the dark ages with no ability for an organised uprising. How wrong they were......

Well, looking back closer to home, pakdokter can safely say that the Indonesians do read and write, but what about Malaysians?

Well, we are good at and like to shout " KITA Bolih!....."

The Opera "Carmen" at the Prague National Theatre...

After managing to get a one-hour rest at the hotel, we booked the hotel limousine to send us to the National Theatre to watch the "Opera Carmen" which played to a full house for one day only. We were lucky to have secured the two tickets on the day we arrived 3 days ago.

The National Theatre of Prague looked dull from the outside but once inside it was a complete beauty.

The opera itself was interesting with great singing and beautiful choregraphy and sets

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A Trip Down Memory Lane.....

This trip has been a trip down memory lane for pakdokter and pakdokter's partner. 32 years ago, Prague was our first stop in our 2-months of 'back-packing' honeymoon in Europe. We revisited the spots where we had taken a photograph of ourselves then and re-enacted the shots. There were three fading photographs in pakdokter's collection and below are the three pairs of the 'then and now' set.

pakdokter in front of the Prague Inter-Continental Hotel....

pakdokter's partner at the Wenceslas Square.....

the newly wed on the banks of Vltava River

in 1978 and 32 years later...

We discovered that the Prague Hotel Intercontinental was located in the Josefov district. This was the hotel we stayed at on the first day of our honeymoon 32 years ago. We decided to walk to the hotel and took some photographs there.

A Pub Lunch in the Jewish Quarter...

Our walking tour of the Jewish Quarter lasted around 5 hours. We went through 4 synagouges porong through the exhibitions in each of them. By 3 pm in the afternoon we were feeling very famished.. Looking around, we decided to try out a local pub and helped ourselves to the 'pub grub'on offer.

pakdokter settled for a plate of tuna salad and anchovies...

pakdokter's waist must have already increased slightly...

need to diet a little....

hopefully the sausages were 'kosher'....

the potato soup was served inside a bread...
hot and steaming, it was great in the cold weather..

this black brew was delicious...
tasted somewhat like the Black Yebisu of Japan..

seriously studying the programme of

the violin recitals at the Spanish Synagouge...

Josefov - the Jewish Quarter of Prague (11) - the Jewish Cemetery..

The Pinkas Synagogue which was the first that pakdokter visited has been converted into a memorial of all those who perished in camps during the Second World War. The walls of the synagogue bear the names of all the 80,000 Jews who died during the war in Prague and in the camps. In another chamber was an exhibition of art and paintings done by the children during the times when they were isolated at the Terrazin Ghetto before finally being transferred to the camps where almost all of them perished.

Just outside of the Pinkas Synagogue, is the Jewish Cemetery. This is the only part of the tour where picture taking was allowed. No pictures were allowed inside all of the synagogues.

In the second synagouge we visited, one of the halls exhibited the practices and rituals in carrying out the funeral for the dead. Pakdokter could not escape feeling that there are so many similarities practised by Muslims and Jews in this aspect of their faith. And yet they are not able to live together in peace.....

Josefov - The Jewish Quarter of Prague (1) : Synagogues

The "Jewish Ghetto" first came into being in the 13th Century when the Vatican put out an order that the Jewish community should be isolated in their own distinct district. The first 'ghetto' was established in the city of Venice and subsequently all major European cities have their own Jewish Quarter.

The Jewish Quarter of Prague occupied quite a large area of the Old Town. It started out as a poor district but was redeveloped over the years with proper planning and designs.

Prague used to have almost 120,000 Jews residing in the city. During the Nazi Years, about 80,000 of them were first sent to the Terrazin Ghetto ( about 70 km away from the city) before being finally sent to 'extermination camps' where most of them perished. Only a few hundreds survived and came home to Josefov. Today the Jewish Quarter is one of the tourist attractions of the city. A 1-day pass allowed one to visit 6 places of interest which are mostly synagogues and a Jewish cemetery. The synagogues have exhibitions on the history of the Jewish community and highlight the lives and works of some of their great personalities in their fields of work. Elements of the beliefs, rituals and practices of the Jewish religion were also on display.

the two pictures above were taken at the Spanish Synagouge

this is the most pretty of the ones pakdokter toured

its interior had Moorish designs

everyday at 530 pm, the synagogue has a musical

performance of music by Gershwin by a small group

of musicians who are members of the Prague Philharmonic...

the New Synagogue...


the Old Synagogue..

there were 3 synagogues around the Jewish cemetery

that could be toured in the one-day pass..

the above being one of them..

Night Scenes at the Republic Square ...

The Municipal House is located at the Republic Square, just about 5 to 10 minutes walk from our hotel. Around the wide square are the Palladium Mall on one side, a big casino on another, the Municipal House and the Powder Tower next to it and the Hibernia Theatre in front of the Municipal House.

the casino at the Republic Square....

the Palladium Mall...

the Palladium Mall...

the foyer of Municipal Hall...

the art deco foyer of Municipal Hall

the Powder Tower next to the Municipal Hall

the Powder Tower...

A Light Dinner at the Municipal House Cafe..

The Black Light Theatre show finished at 830 pm. We walked back towards our hotel and it was becoming increasingly cold. After taking some night shots of the scenes at the Old Town Square - we decided to have a light supper at the Cafe of the Municipal House. The Municipal House has a fine-dining restaurant ( which we had visited 10 years ago when pakdokter came for the World Congress of Psychiatry), so we decided to just go to its cafe instead. Pakdokter just ordered a bowl of lamb stew and pakdokter's partner settled for a small bowl of hot steamy vegetable soup.

The Municipal House is also a venue for musical performances.

Aspects of Alice....

This is a classic theatre performance on the theme of "Alice in Wonderland". It is not a literal transcription for the stage but takes up the story where Alice ceases to be a little girl any more. The author allows Alice, with the aid of fantasy, to experience the wonderful moments of growing up, discovering love, sexuality, laughter and tears, joy and sadness. All this against the background of Old Prague, its architectural jewels and its rich historical associations, but also Prague as the crossroads of Christian and Jewish culture. The creative direction, the large scale projections, animated films, puppets, amazing tricks and black theatre special effects, exciting contemporary music alongside classical music by Bedrich Smetana and Antoin Dvorak, fantasies - all this makes a perfect theatrical experience.