Running in Prague

John Lennon's Wall in Prague

Last year I got really lost in Madrid while on a run. I mean really lost. The first 90 minutes were great. I was running through the streets in the early morning and thinking it was a beautiful city. The only people I saw were drunk people walking home from the bar (it was 6:00 am) and there were hardly any cars on the road. Then I realized I had no idea where I was.

I had no money on me, my hotel key was so “cool” it was black with no words and I couldn’t speak Spanish. The next two hours of running while lost were not fun.

I need a running guardian angel

The problem with European cities is that they are old. Most of them aren’t built on a grid system like the cities in the US. Instead the roads are tiny and spiral out from the main square or cathedral. And for people like me who don’t have an amazing internal compass, chances are we won’t get far before we don’t know where we are.

Charles Bridge in Prague seen on my running tour

Thankfully, running has become so popular, that some cities have running guides. Until now, I have only read about these guides in Runner’s World but I had never tried one. The reason for this is that I’m a little embarrassed at how slow I run and I’m not really a great conversationalist when running. Once I’m in the zone, my mind kind of drifts off and does other things which may explain why I get lost so often.

Getting out of the tourist zone with Running Tours Prague

This past weekend, I was in Prague — another old and not built on a grid city. Before I arrived, I looked on the map to see where my hotel was and to see if I could map out a running route. Nope. It was going to be complicated. Plus, I don’t like running on cobblestone so I would need to find a path that was paved or dirt. It was time to try a running guide.

Devil’s Creek in Prague

Running Tours Prague to the rescue

I found runningtoursprague.com through google and they had everything I wanted. I wanted to run for about two hours. I wanted to see some sites, but mostly I wanted to run in the parks and non-cobblestone areas. And I really didn’t want someone to talk to me as I was staying in the Old Square and could get a history lesson on the city from one of the walking tours in the area later on.

Oh…and I wanted them to get me from my hotel instead of me trying to find them somewhere in a city I didn’t know.

Me with Andy my Prague running tour guide

Andy, my guide, was there to meet me exactly at 7 am on Sunday morning. I told him the plan and off we went. He took me along the river, through parks and around the outside of the city through all the green spaces. We climbed hills to see the city from above and then weaved our way back to my hotel. He let me stop and take photos when I wanted and never made me feel like a turtle. It was wonderful.

Prague from the top of another hill

In fact, it was so wonderful that I ran with him again the next morning. This time we started earlier and he took me on a completely different route that was still away from the tourists.

Devil's Creek in Prague

He asked me what I had seen the day before on my own and when I told him, he made sure we ran past a few of the cool things I had missed like The John Lennon Wall, the weird giant babies, Devil’s Creek, the upside down horse statue, the monastery where they brew their own beer and a couple other places.

Weird baby statues in Prague

The miles passed by quickly. For those two hours each day, Andy was my running guardian angel leading me through the maze of streets so I could relax and just enjoy my run.

I’m telling you, seeing Prague through the eyes of runner is the only way to do it.

Tea by the Irish Sea

Ireland with all its ruggedness always calls to me. It’s cold, rainy, windy and the sea is always angry when I visit. But they do make the best scones and there is nothing like a hot pot of tea to take the chill off.

This March I had the chance to see Ireland through the eyes of my friend who grew up there.

 

I only had a weekend, but we covered a lot of ground, and visited all of his favorite old haunts from his college days.

Naturally, we hit all his favorite pubs. But also did a bit walking along the sea in between rain showers. 

 He took me to Trinity College where he did his PhD and then gave me his tour of the some tourist things I’ve been trying to see but hadn’t got around to such as the Long Hall and the Book of Kells. 

Sometimes all you need to rejuvenate your soul is a change of scenery...and catching up with a good friend.

Sailing in Dubai

My friends will tell you that I’m not very good at sitting still. I love hiking and the outdoors, but sitting in a campground or camping sounds horrible. My idea of a picnic is standing at the summit, eating a protein bar while enjoying the view for 5 minutes and then going on my way.

But for some reason, I’ve always loved the beauty of boats, so when my buddy in Dubai said he was planning on spending the day on the boat with friends, I had to say “yes.” 

Really, there is no other way of seeing the city than from the sea. It’s breathtaking and relaxing.

Running with my tribe doing the Dubai Marathon

Dubai is one of my favorite cities that I have been to so far. I love the mix of East and West, I love the whole bigger than life sleek skyscrapers and I like that it’s still slow-paced, unlike Shanghai and other modern cities.

I admit that it is expensive there for eating and drinking out, but that’s how it is in Vegas and other tourist-based cities. And compared to Switzerland and the high prices there, the dining out costs are a deal.

I’ve already been to Dubai of number of times, but this time I had a special reason for going. I was going to run the Dubai 2016 Marathon. I have run numerous half marathons in the last 3 years, but I’ve never run the full 26.2 miles.

I figured if I was going to be pain after, then I should do it in someplace beautiful that has luxurious spas and a great view. Another reason for doing it was that I knew the route would be flat and at sea level. This was a big deal because I would be training in Switzerland during the cold and rainy season – which meant that I was barely training. I needed to do an “easy” marathon if I was going to do one at all.

But even knowing this, I still debated and it took three things to finally say, “Let’s do this!” Number 1, was I was asked to give a three-day communications workshop at KAUST in Saudi Arabia. They agreed to fly me home from Dubai as part of my speaking arrangement. I still had to fly from Jeddah to Dubai, but $200 ticket is much cheaper than a $700 ticket.

Number 2 was that I had read a study that runners and cyclists who wanted to compete in mountain sports could use heat training as an equivalent to attitude training. I was training in altitude, but running someplace where it was going to be considerably hotter. I was hoping the reverse was also true.

And Number 3, was that I convinced another girlfriend to run it as well and I knew her training was going as badly as mine. Misery loves company! We decided to run our hearts out and then celebrate with sparkling wine –even if we couldn’t walk afterwards.

Having her join also helped me financially as I wanted a hotel room walking distance from the finish line as I knew getting a cab would be impossible with the roads closed. Of course, this being Dubai and me waiting until the last minute, the cheapest rooms were $600 a night. Might more tolerable knowing it would be split between the two of us.

The race was fantastic. We started running at 6:30 am as the sun was just rising and I was done in 4:29. The route was flat and smooth, and with the view of the Dubai skyline in one direction and the famous Burg when getting close to the finish line. I also loved the runners. Half marathons are always so crowded and I can’t seem to get my pace until mile 7 or 8 as I’m dodging people or slowing down until there is space to go around them.

The marathon was different. No one was racing out of the gate and by mile 4 or 5, people had found their long-distance pace and just kind of stayed in it. Plus, even though I was slowing down from mile 18 onwards, I was motivated to keep going because everyone around me was also hitting the wall – or had already hit it and were limping slowly forward. I was with my tribe of fellow non-Olympians who just like to run and it felt good.

PHOTO MOMENT: Morning run along the lake

Lake Leman in Switzerland

Getting up early for a Winter run is worth it when you have sunrises like this.

The unsexy side of traveling

Visiting Cambodia was amazing. I got to run a race with temples in the background, I got to eat some amazing food and I got to see a country that I’ve wanted to check out for a while.

I also got sick.

It started suddenly. I arrived in Thailand and my stomach was feeling a little off but not too bad. But then that night the fever, vomiting and diarrhea started – and wouldn’t stop. Sometimes both were happen ing at the same time. The next morning was even worse. The fever was still there and my stomach still wasn’t up to eating. In addition, my muscles felt like I ran a marathon. I was physically exhausted, and the back of my legs also felt like I had massive bruises on them, yet I couldn’t see anything.

Day three, I still wasn’t better, and the pain in the back of my legs was worse. However, now giant mystery red welts had shown up. Did I go to the doctor? No. I decided to try to sleep it off as I was still so tired and having hot and cold flashes.

mystery red welts that really, really hurt

Day five, the fever was finally gone and so was the pain in my legs. The welts? Well, they were still there, but they were changing. The skin on top of them was peeling off and underneath was a weird bruise. They looked like reverse sunburn.

It was now I decided to go to the doctor as this was beyond weird. The good news was that I was now back in Switzerland where I know everything is clean. The bad news was that I don’t speak the language very well and it turned out the doctor had never seen anything like it. I tried to explain that this started in Cambodia and that I thought it was food poisoning or the flu. The doctor brought in two other doctors. It was a mystery – but it definitely was not the flu and I didn’t get these bruises from the bad food.

The welts now peeling

After an hour of prodding and looking up things in books and online, they concluded some sort of spider or bug had bitten me and all the symptoms were my body’s way of killing off the poison. They said they looked like they were starting to heal and weren’t infected.

Basically, because I had no idea what had bitten me, they couldn’t do much except give me some lotion to make them less crusty.


Deadly bug bites. Stuff you don’t think about when traveling.

A Culinary Journey in Thailand

Curry, lemongrass, spicy broths and seafood…I’m drooling already. The food in Thailand is so flavorful. The last time I went, I decided to learn how to make some of my favorite things.

My culinary journey began with a visit to the local market with the chef from the Anantara Hua Hin Resort in Thailand.

 Taking me around the tables, she explained what each of the spices were (they look different fresh than they do ground up and put in a jar like you would find in the US) and the different types of fish that were indigenous of the area. Sea bass and prawns were both ingredients that I would need that day.

She also showed me the different types of curry and how they buy it. For some reason, I didn’t expect curry to come in a past that you buy by the ounce. I always thought it was powdered. She asked the person selling to the let me smell each of them so I can see the differences between them all and how each of them would compliment certain dishes.

From there we went back to the resort to start cooking. On the menu were Green Papaya Salad, Spicy Prawn Soup and Steamed Sea Bass, and this wasn’t one for those “watch the chef” do it journeys. They actually let me cut, dice and even de-vein my jumbo shrimp for the courses. For me the hardest part with removing the seeds from the little chilies and mincing everything together.

Everything was made from scratch including the broth. And the number of ingredients that went into everything was an interesting learning experience. All ingredients were fresh and in most cases it was the combination of sugar, fish oil and different chilies, onions and lime juice that transformed the dish from bland to amazing.

It also didn’t take much to make a dish too spicy to enjoy (lesson learned – little green chilies are killer spicy).

It was truly a great experience and half day of learning.

There’s just something about Thailand

One of my favorite trips to date has been Thailand. I spent a week in the Golden Triangle last year and the energy in Bangkok is fantastic. There’s just something about this country that I love. It may be the people, the food, the weather, the tropical plants…or maybe it’s the elephants. Whatever it is, Thailand always leaves me in awe. (read my blog post on Thailand's Golden Triangle)

This time I thought I would try the Hua Hin District. It’s about 200 km South of Bangkok but it takes 3 hours to get from the Bangkok airport to the area. Although it took nearly 4 when I arrived as the traffic was crazy. But it’s worth the long ride, and the scenery along the highway isn’t the best, once you get off them and towards the coast, you will be blown away by the beauty.

The beaches in this area are absolutely enchanting. I stayed at the Anantara Hua Hin Resort in early December, which I was told is good time to go as the hotel rates are inexpensive at that time as the holiday crowd hasn’t arrived yet.

All you can tell from the photos, the resort was lovely and the perfect place for me to unwind and rejuvenate myself for 3 days before going back to work.  It was so beautiful that it was sad to say goodbye to this view from my balcony. But I'm sure I will be back to Thailand one day.  

From Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

I admit except for running the Angkor Wat half marathon, I really didn’t have any concrete plans on what I wanted to do in Cambodia. But I figured while I was there, I should go visit the capital Phnom Penh and check it out.

It’s about a 6 to 8 hour drive from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh mostly because the roads are full of holes so you can’t speed along at 100 km an hour like in can in other places. But the drive is interesting as you pass through a bunch of villages and get to see some of the landscape. A really cheap why to do it is on the sleepy bus. The bus picks you up at 10 pm in Siem Reap and you arrive at 8 am in Phnom Penh. The cost was around $15 a person and we saw a lot of backpackers doing the trip that way.

But my friend and I took a more luxurious way. We asked the hotel how much it would be to hire a car to drive us there and the cost was $75. We thought about it and considering we would be recovering from running the race, the car had air conditioning and could stop whenever we wanted if we needed bathroom breaks or photo moments, we figured splitting the cost between two people was more than worth it.

The choice was the right one. The driver let us know when we were coming up to villages that had clean restrooms. And I one of the best soups of the whole trip at a little café he knew along the way.

Plus, when we got to this one area of the country, a little town called Skuon, where they have these giant black spiders that they fry and eat, he pulled into a market so I could see them.

The spiders are bred in holes in the ground and the spider-getter reaches into the hole and snatches them out.  They were big and the live ones were more than a little scary. But still I was fascinated and had to get a close up of them. Did I eat one? I was tempted, but then figured they were out in the sun all day and probably not the freshest choice – and I was really trying to be safe and not get food poisoning too early in the trip. Turns out, it didn’t matter. I got sick anyway, but more that in a later blog.

Anyway, back to Phnom Penh. Let me start by saying that it takes a couple of days to get used to it. Siem Reap is cute and touristy with just enough exoticness to make you feel like you ventured out on your own.

Phnom Penh is fast-paced, crowded, noisy, smelly and everything a city of 2.2 million in a hot tropical country is expected to be. They use their sidewalks for selling stuff, but walking on the street is an adventure as there are so many mopeds and motorbikes, you feel like you are in a video game.

 Crossing the street as pedestrian is a feat in its own. You can spot the expats in their big SUVs and we were amazed at how they could park those things in city made for bikes and Tuk-Tuks. Someone told us they are a hazard as you can’t see around them when on a moped and after being there for a few days I had to agree.

Traffic rules and passing lanes seem to be made based on “space”. In other words, if you think you can fit, then you can go. So passing happens on the left, on the right, and anywhere in between. What totally amazed me was how many people they could fit on their little motor bikes and the stuff they carried with them. I saw someone with live chickens. I saw someone with stuff strapped on the back, front and on their head. It was fun just watching them and seeing what would drive by next.

One thing I can say is that if you look, you can find anything and everything in Phnom Penh – from gourmet restaurants to sex-for-hire bars. And they may be located within a few feet of each other. Narrow dirty alleys are really streets and there are people everywhere. People are creative with their businesses. We saw a guy set up a chair in a little side alley and give people haircuts and shaves. Hotels, food and massages were a little more expensive than in Siem Reap, but still very reasonable compared to Western prices.

By day 3 we had the city under control. We even found an aerial yoga class held in a little building that was taught by an Australian expat. The cool thing, is once you find one expat, they can give you tips about the city that only an insider knows. She let us know which hotels you could visit during the day and for fee or for a drink, you could hang by the pool to escape the heat.

Phnom Penh is bizarre combination of poor and rich, modern and traditional, and all of these things are mixed together in a way that works for them. It’s really worth a visit.