Wednesday 22 July 2009

21 March, 2009 (Sat) - Dublin, Ireland - Day 10

After breakfast this morning, I went scouting for the route from my hostel to the Dublin Port, where I'll take a ferry over to Holyhead, Wales. It was quite a long walk and the route is sort of deserted. With reference to the simple map I had, the port is located towards the far end. When I reached the far end, there is a wide road leading towards the motorway and there was a road leading somewhere on the opposite side but there was no sign board whatsoever indicating where it leads to. After some time, I still couldn't find it so I gave up and head back. On my way back, I met 2 security officers at the O2 building who kindly gave me the direction. I am supposed to make a turn and walk all the way into a road I've passed by just now. I didn't went on to confirm the route to the terminal for 2 reasons: first, I'm not sure I'll be able to walk so far with my backpacks and second, I needed to use the toilet really bad. So off I went rushing back towards the city centre but it was so far away!!! I don't think I could wait until I reach my hostel so I just walked right into the first hotel I saw, acting as if I am one of their hotel customer and use their toilet. Hehe...

After relieving myself, I walked along the Liffey River's Millennium boardwalk and then cross the Ha'Penny Bridge to Temple Bar. The Ha'Penny bridge is a pedestrian bridge built in 1816 over the River Liffey, made of iron cast. Originally called the Wellington Bridge (after the Duke of Wellington), the name of the bridge changed to Liffey Bridge. The Liffey Bridge remains the bridge's official name to this day - though it is still commonly known as the Ha'penny Bridge. Before the Ha'penny Bridge was built there were seven ferries, operated by a William Walsh, across the Liffey.[1] The ferries were in a bad condition and Walsh was informed that he had to either fix them or build a bridge. Walsh chose the latter option and was granted the right to extract a ha'penny toll from anyone crossing it for 100 years.[citation needed] Initially the toll charge was based, not on the cost of construction, but to match the charges levied by the ferries it replaced.

Temple Bar in the day is relatively quieter than the night. Tourists wandered around taking photos, there is some street performer singing away in the alley, some sat at the café enjoying their breakfast. There are 3 markets going on today at Temple Bar area. The first is the book market (Saturday and Sunday) at the Temple Bar Square, which only has around 5 stores. Then I head to the food market (every Saturday) at the Meeting House Square which was not as big as I thought it would be. There were only around 20 odd stores selling various types of food i.e. cakes, muffins, breads, cheese, fruits and vegetables, olives, oysters etc. I bought a huge blueberry scone for €2. The National Photographic Archive is just next to the food market. There is an exhibition showing the works of D James Galbraith's Ireland 1970 - 1997, with quite a good photo collection showing the life in various Ireland towns between the years. After the viewing, I went to the fashion and design market at Cow's Lane (every Saturday). It is the largest designer market in Dublin offering handmade, one-off original designs. The market sells everything from silk custom made underwear to art prints to funky clothing.

Besides the markets, you can also find the Dublin Wall of Fame (Temple Lane South), a monumental tribute to some of Ireland's favorite musical heroes being acknowledged and celebrated in a permanent outdoor photographic exhibition.The artists featured on the Wall of Fame were judged by several criteria - not record sales alone, but also for their genuine pioneering work in contributing to modern popular music and for showcasing the quality and range of Irish musical talent on the World stage. It is by no means a definitive list of the Irish top 12, but each act has been highly influential in the Irish music scene past and present.

After that I visited the Chester Beatty Library, established in Dublin in 1950, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present library, on the grounds of Dublin Castle, opened on February 7, 2000, the 125th anniversary of Sir Alfred's birth and was named European Museum of the Year in 2002. The Library's collections are displayed in two collections: "Sacred Traditions" and "Artistic Traditions". Both displays exhibit sacred texts, manuscripts, miniature paintings and art on paper from the world's great oriental and western religions as well as secular items. It is such an impressive collection with lots of information and details. Outside the library, is a beautiful garden where I rest and ate my scone. There are also some cheery blossom trees around adding the beauty of the garden.

My last destination of the day is the Guinness Storehouse. It was quite a long walk there and I passed by the St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Augustus Church and also a street market just opposite of the St. Augustus church before finally arriving at the Guinness Storehouse. There was quite a queue inside but the Guinness TV advertisements on show were very entertaining. The admission fee is €15 which includes a pint of Guinness at the end of the tour. I was given a floor map as it is a self guided tour and off I went with the crowd entering the exhibition hall. The exhibition inside is very interesting and informative. Coincidentally, the year 2009 marks the 250 years anniversary for Guinness brewery. The first room I entered showed the 4 main ingredients used to make the Guinness; malt, barley, hops and water. There are malts and barley on display where you can touch and smell them. There are also short films explaining each process of brewing the stout. Some of the machines used were also shown. The air was filled with the sweet scent of malt, barley and hops. Suddenly the bell rang and apparently they are just preparing to launch the next half a million bottles of Guinness. A lucky visitor was chosen to push the button to start the launch. There are a total of 5 floors in the building where you can gain much insight into the whole brewing process, the machinery used, the process of producing the big wooden barrels to hold the stout, the history, the marketing strategy, the advertisements, the Guinness cartoons, etc. There is also a tasting lab where you get to taste the different types of stout produced. Here, I learned that Guinness Stout is first exported to Malaysia from Liverpool in the late 1880s.

Towards the end of my tour, I'm ready to redeem my pint of Guinness. There are several bars that you can go to; one of them allows you to pull your own pint into the glass. I originally intended to try that out but the queue was just too long hence I decided to just to get my pint elsewhere. I went up to the Gravity Bar which was a glass-paneled window bar providing a 360 degrees view of Dublin city. It was quite a clear weather day hence a good view round Dublin city. However the bar is so crowded that it is hard to find a spot to sit down. After enjoying the view, I went off to another bar, ordered my pint of Guinness and sat down to savor the fine brew. Slainte! (Cheers in Irish)

After my pint, I walked back to my hostel, down along the Liffey River again. I stopped at the souvenir store to get myself an embroidered Irish Badge. Tonight, I bought a sweet & sour chicken rice to go with my broccoli. Quite a tiring day with all the walking but a very eventful one.

Photos of Dublin, Ireland

Tuesday 21 July 2009

20 March, 2009 (Fri) - Dublin, Ireland - Day 9

Today, I will be joining a day tour to the Wicklow and Glendalough. I met the 2 SG girls at the breakfast hall where they were joined with 3 other guy friends also from SG and studying in Cambridge. A brief conversation, we discovered that we were both doing the same tour by the same tour operator. Well, let's see if we will be on the same bus. (again, remember in my dream I did the same tour with the girls?) End up we were on different mini buses (there were 2 mini buses by the same agent today). Our transport for the day is a 24-seater Mercedez Benz midi coach and it is fully-seated today. Martin is our driver cum tour guide for the day and he is a very informative and fun guy. The weather was brilliant today, blue skies and lovely sunshine.

We left the Dublin city, headed for the east coast, traveling along Dublin Bay to Dun Laoghaire, and passing through Dalkey, home to Bono, U2, Enya, Van Morrison, Dalkey is also a heritage town complete with its very own historical castles. We were given a 10mins photo break at the harbour. After that, we stop at the Avoca Handweavers, established since 1723 (Ireland's oldest) for morning coffee/craft shopping/toilet for another half an hour. I wasn't interested in the shopping / the coffee, so after using the bathroom and a quick round inside the shop, I went out to sit in the garden, enjoying the morning sun, waiting for the rest. After that break, we went inland, heading west to the wilds of Wicklow Mountains.

Wicklow Mountains National Park covers part of a mountain range that extends over most of County Wicklow on the east coast of Ireland. The upper slopes and rounded peaks are blanketed with heath and bog. The open vistas are interrupted only by forestry plantations and the winding mountain roads. Fast-flowing streams descend into the deep lakes of the wooded valleys and continue their course into the surrounding lowlands.

Our first photo stop is at Loch Tay, also known as the Guinness Lake. It is a small but scenic lake set in the Wicklow Mountains in County Wicklow. It lies between the mountains of Djouce and Luggala, and is best viewed from the above, which is what we did! We stopped at the roadside, looking down the steep valley onto the lake. It is simply amazing. The reason why some called it the Guinness Lake is due to the black lake water (viewed from above) edged with a beach of startlingly white sand, imported by the landowners. This combination definitely resembles a pint of the Guinness, hence the name. Quite a number of movies i.e. Braveheart, Excalibur, Michael Collins, Reign of fire, Ballykissangel, King Arthur (2003) and the most reason film, P.S. I Love You was filmed here in the Wicklow Mountains. We also made a photo stop at the bridge where Hillary Swank walked past while she's lost (P.S. I love you), which excites several girls on the bus upon learning this information.

We then passed by Sally Gap, which is 759m above sea level and on to the Military Road. The Military road is quite a narrow and winding road where it is impossible for normal large coaches to navigate through. The views along the tour so far were just simply breathtaking. There were quite a lot of sheep farms that we have passed through and according to Martin, there are 2.5million baby lambs due in the coming months. Already I could see some baby lambs on the farms which were extremely cute. Before breaking for lunch, we stop at a place (forgot the name) and had this amazing view. Looking down we see a stream flowing alongside the woods. Absolutely gorgeous. We then went for lunch at Laragh, meaning "Site (or ruins) of a Building", a small picturesque village in County Wicklow. There is a pub and 2 cafe here and I had a chicken sandwich (€3.40) at Anne's Coffee Shop. After the meal, I still have some time left before the gathering time, so I went walking around the area. I think this is quite a nice place to live in, very peaceful and quiet (except of course for the tour buses that comes in every day at noon).

After the lunch break, we drove another 5mins to arrive at Glendalough, (Irish: Gleann Dá Loch, meaning 'Glen of Two Lakes') is a glacial valley, renowned for its early medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest, and destroyed in 1398 by English troops. The two lakes, which gave the valley its name, came into existence thousands of years ago, after the Ice Age, when great deposits of earth and stone were strewn across the valley in the area where the Round Tower now exists. The mountain streams eventually formed a large lake. The Pollanass river spread alluvial deposits across the centre of the lake and created a divide to form the Upper and Lower Lakes. The Glenealo river flows in from the West into the Upper lake which is the larger and deepest of the two lakes.

We were set down at the lower valley and Martin came with us to brief us on some of the important monuments here before leaving us to go explore the area ourselves and then pick us up later at the upper valley carpark. The most famous of all the landmarks in Glendlough is the Round Tower which is built of mica-slate interspersed with granite stands 33 meters above the ground, with an entrance 3.5 meters from the base. It was built almost 1000 years ago by the monks of St. Kevin's monastery. The conical roof had to be replaced in 1876 when it was struck by lightning. The tower originally had six timber floors, connected by ladders. The four stories above entrance level are each lit by a small window; while the top storey has four windows facing the cardinal compass points. The Glendalough round tower was originally built as a bell tower but also served on occasion as store-houses and a place of refuge when the monastery was under attack.

There were several other monuments to see here besides the round tower i.e. the Gateway. The Gateway to the monastic city of Glendalough is one of the most important monuments, now totally unique in Ireland. It was originally two-storied with two fine, granite arches. The antae or projecting walls at each end suggest that it had a timber roof. Inside the gateway, in the west wall, is a cross-inscribed stone. This denoted the sanctuary, the boundary of the area of refuge. The paving of the causeway in the monastic city is still preserved in part but very little remains of the enclosure wall.

Following the path after the gateway, I came to The cathedral, the largest ruin at Glendalough. It is built of stone and is now missing much of the walls and all of the ceiling, but is still a fascinating structure. The nave and antae were built in the 10th century, and a chancel and sacristy were added on in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The chancel arch and east window were finely decorated through many of the stone are now missing. The north doorway to the nave also dates from this period. Under the southern window of the chancel is an aumbry or wall cupboard and a piscina, a basin used for washing the scared vessels.

Next is the Saint Kevin's Church / Kitchen. This stone-roofed building originally had a nave only, with entrance at the west end and a small round-headed window in the east gable. The upper part of the window can be seen above what became the chancel arch, when the chancel (now missing) and the sacristy were added later. The steep roof, formed of overlapping stones, is supported internally by a semi-circular vault. Access to the croft or roof chamber was through a rectangular opening towards the western end of the vault. The church also had a timber first floor. The belfry with its conical cap and four small windows rises from the west end of the stone roof in the form of a miniature round tower.

The monastery is also actually a cemetery and this cemetery only allows burial by relation. This means that you can only be buried here if your family is buried here. A research showed that there are only 7 valid burials left before the cemetery is closed. From the St. Kevin's church, there is a pathway through the woods towards the lower lake. This pathway also links to the upper lake. The view along the pathway is great and the weather today makes it a very nice stroll. As I didn't have much time left, I hurried over to the upper lakes, which has an even more amazing lake scenery. I wished I had more time to spend here at the lakes as it is so gorgeous. Unfortunately it is time to go back to Dublin. On the way back, I was thinking about my little Micra, who had accompanied me in my adventures in UK, giving me absolute freedom to spend as much or as little time at the places visited.

We arrived back in Dublin around 5pm. I went to the Temple Bar area, thinking of taking some night scenes of the famous Dublin bar area. Temple Bar is an area on the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin. Unlike the areas surrounding it, Temple Bar has preserved its medieval street pattern, with many narrow cobbled streets. It is promoted as "Dublin's cultural quarter" and has a lively nightlife that is popular with tourists. However I think it'll still take quite some time until the sky turns dark and honestly I'm not 100% comfortable loitering at this bar area after dark. So I dropped the idea and head back to hostel. While resting in the room after dinner and shower, the 2 SG girls came back. So I chatted with them for a while about their life in Cambridge, where I've been to and where I'm going next. It seems that life in Cambridge is pretty tough (at least for their course, in Natural Science). They had lessons and tutorials Mon-Sat and only have Sun left for some relaxation. Wow, can't imagine going through that kind of life again. One of them is on MOE scholarship so she'll become a teacher after she graduated. It's quite nice to have someone to talk to after a while especially when you have something in common.

19 March, 2009 (Thu) - Dublin, Ireland - Day 8

I had 2 interesting dreams last night, the first relating to my job; while the second dream was about meeting 3 girls from Singapore and we sort of end up doing some traveling together. I slept a little longer today since my main itinerary today is to join the free Dublin walking tour, at 10.20am. The hostel breakfast is rather simple; toast, butter and jam spread, coffee / tea / hot chocolate and some kind of cake. After that, I went out for a quick walkabout before the tour begins. It is really misty and cold today with very poor visibility. I walked towards the river where there were some sculptures of some Irish families with very rugged clothing with sad faces. I do not really understand what the sculptures are about as the plates on the ground beside the sculptures just list the family names etc. As I was walking along the O' Connell's street, I looked up and found the tip of the spire disappearing into the mist. As the time nears, I went back to the hostel to meet the pick up guide. There were 6 of us from the hostel and we picked up another 6 from the nearby Isaac's hostel before moving on to the main meeting point at City Hall. We were separated into English and Spanish group, the English group has around 30 odd people. The area was quite noisy with passing vehicles and since I was standing at the back row, I couldn't hear clearly when the guide gave us introduction and some brief history about Ireland. Luckily things got better as we moved to other places and I try to stand closer to the guide.

During the 3 hours tour, we were brought to a number of places around Dublin, many of which I've been to on my little exploration yesterday. However, having a guide explaining about the backgrounds definitely adds more color to the place. Our tour guide, Connor, was pretty funny and lively as he told us story after story of the Dublin's past. It was extremely cold today, 6 deg C. I had my hood up and I thought I looked absolutely funny compared to the rest on the tour because I looked as if I'm all geared up for winter sports :p But I don't care as long as I am getting myself warm (although I still felt a little cold under 2-layer my jacket). We break for a quick snack at 12.30pm at the Temple Bar area. Normally on these kind of tour, the guide will bring us to some specific cafe for lunch cum toilet break, and in exchange the guides get to eat free. I've packed 2 bananas and a pack of crisps as lunch today. After the break, we continued on our tour for slightly an hour more before finally ending it at St Stephens Green park. These free walking tour guides survived solely on tip basis. I gave the guide €2 as tip and went into the park. I sat on a bench to rest my feet and had a bar of Snickers. The sun has finally shown his face for the day and the temperature warms up a little. After the break, I had a nice little stroll in the beautiful park, with river, stone bridge, gazebos, and the colors of the trees and flowers, all these creates a surreal scene as if a scene in a fairy tale story. I then visited Grafton street, a busy shopping street in Dublin.


After that, I went in to the National Gallery of Ireland, which houses the Irish national collection of Irish and European art. Entrance is free but you need to deposit your bags at the cloakroom (free). There were lots of portraits and art pieces on exhibit inside. I wasn't that interested in these art works, so I left after a quick tour of 15mins. When I went to retrieve my backpack from the cloakroom, the elderly man at the counter told me that I couldn't get my backpack until half an hour later. That answer really caught me off-guard so I showed a blank face and blurted 'huh'? Then as his serious face turned into a big smiley face, I realized that he was just joking with me. This became like an ice-breaker between us and we chatted a little he asked me where I was from and how I liked Dublin. I then asked him if the National Museum nearby is open. He says 'Well, yes! Today the National Museum is especially opened for people from Malaysia'. We both burst into laughter. What a funny guy. He then told me the direction to get there. I thanked him and wanted to walked out the door I came in from earlier and he called out to me, 'No, no, no... not that way, sigh do I have to do everything?' He then came out from the cloakroom and escorted me out to the correct exit and again told me the direction. :p However, I did not go directly to the National Museum as I had to hurry to the tourist information center before they close to book for my day tour tomorrow. I signed up for the Wicklow and Glendalough tour from 'Day Tour's Unplugged'. The tour costs €25 and will start at 9am tomorrow morning.

After that, seeing it is near to the museum's closing time, I decided not to go back to the museum. Instead, I went to the nearby post office to mail my postcards back home. The postage here is a little more expansive compared to posting in UK. Then, I decided to call it a day and walked back to my hostel. Tonight, there were 2 young ladies in my room who were from Singapore and they are currently studying in Cambridge University. If you could remember earlier in the post about my dream? What a coincidence (although in my dream there were 3 girls)! Also, there were some incidents in the hostel where there were some girls being kicked out from the hostel because she hasn't paid her dorm money and also she was involved with the loud party the other night. One of my dorm mate was a friend to one of the girls so she let her come in to our room while she try to call some other friends asking if she could crash at their place for the night. Well, all sorts of things and people you see in hostels ;)

Thursday 16 July 2009

18 March, 2009 (Wed) - Dublin, Ireland - Day 7

Woke up to a misty view outside the window and I told myself, geez it's gonna be cold. After freshen up, I sneaked out from the room and went down to the dining hall. The hall is empty and the Causeway Café is just getting ready to open up for business. I made myself a mug of tea and had 2 chocolate muffins. Then, I checked out from the hostel and walked to the Europa Bus Station. The street is very busy with cars, buses, and pedestrians all rushing to work or school after last night's big celebration. It is still very misty but behind all the mist, I could just see a tint of blue sky. I bought the Goldline Enterprise Bus ticket, route 200 to Dublin city centre, departing at 9am for €11.55. The whole journey takes about 2hrs and 40mins. There weren't many passengers today on the bus. It was only about 7 deg C when I board the bus and the temperature maintained at about 11 deg throughout the whole journey. After we have pulled out of Belfast city onto the motorway, the sun started to shine and the clear blue sky comes into view.

I kept myself busy reading up my guidebook on the destinations ahead, trying to justify where to go and how many days to be spent at each location. From time to time, I would look out the window, especially when we pass by some lovely farmlands and also some gorgeous little towns. An hour into the journey, the bus pulled into a bus station. I was wondering if this could be the Dublin Busaras? But it couldn't be as it is far too soon to be arriving in Dublin. So I waited. Most of the passengers on board remained seated, a few passengers boarded the bus, while only one guy alighted. After that the bus continued on the journey. I guess this is definitely not Dublin, although it seems to be quite a nice town. The bus went back onto the motorway and I went back to my reading. Later, the bus pulled over to the side of the motorway and a guy came up the bus. He is actually the immigration officer for Ireland checking passengers' ID, so I showed him my passport. After all are cleared, we continued on the journey until we arrived at a toll station. This is the first time I've seen a toll station in Europe as there weren't any in UK. After the toll, we first arrived at the Dublin City Airport. Half of the passengers alighted here while the remaining continued on until Dublin Busaras, arriving there around 11.40am.

I had some tough luck looking for my hostel although from the hostel description, it is located just across the Busaras. I've walked round and round and asked 4 times before finally locating my hostel, the Jacob's Inn, just in time before my shoulder gave in on the weight. I checked into a 10 bed female dorm, en suite. The room is quite spacious and clean. After settling my stuff, I went out to look for food and also to get some info from the tourist info centre. The sun is shining brilliantly as I come out of the hostel. I ended up having a double cheeseburger from McD, just across the giant spires. The Spire of Dublin, officially titled 'the Monument of Light' is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument 120 metres (390 ft) in height, located on the site of the former Nelson's Pillar on O'Connell Street. Then, I went into the tourist info centre to get some Dublin day tour brochures. The lady at the counter suggested the Wicklow & Glendalough as it would be more of scenic tour. I think I'll definitely do the tour but the problem is which tour operator should I take up? There are a handful of them and all boosting they were the best. Never mind, I'll decide later on.

After that, I crossed the river towards the Trinity College. The main attraction here is the 'Book of Kells' (€9 for the entrance fee), an illuminated manuscript in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was transcribed by Celtic monks ca. 800. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination and is also widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure. I decided not to do it now but just stroll along the university compound as it would be a total waste to be indoors on such lovely day. Everybody is out to enjoy the sun. Many university students as well as tourists just sat on the benches and the grass, chatting among them or just purely soaking in the precious Vitamin D & K. Coming out of the college, I walked towards this cathedral-looking building down the Suffolk street. Turns out this 'cathedral' has now been transformed into a tourist information centre. I went in for a quick round before walking towards the Dublin Castle. This castle was the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland until 1922, and is now a major Irish government complex. Next to the castle, is the Dublin City Hall where you can enter only by guided tour. The Christ Church Cathedral is just nearby. It is the elder of the city's two medieval cathedrals, the other being St. Patrick's Cathedral. I only stood by the door and had a quick peek into the church and left as I am unwilling to part with €6 for the entrance fee. The cathedral is linked to the Dublina & the Viking World Museum by a stone bridge.

After all these 'viewing' I walked along the Liffey River down the Merchant Quay. I don't actually have any idea where I was and where I am going and was just too lazy to pull out my map to find my orientation. Crossing the bridge to the other side, I let myself get lost amongst the streets and alleyway before reaching this big cobblestone courtyard. There stood a tall chimney with round glass platform at the top; I'm guessing it is the Smithfield Chimney Viewing Tower. Looking upwards, I didn't see anybody at the viewing tower and the chimney's lift looks a little run-down. A google on the internet later at night confirmed my suspicion that the chimney is currently closed undergoing renovation works. Otherwise, it provides a 360 degrees view of Dublin city. Behind the chimney viewing tower is the Old Jameson Distillery, one of the largest and finest Distilleries in the world once upon a time, originally built in 1780. A guided tour is available for €12.50. The Smithfield Chimney viewing tower was originally used to distill Ireland's famous Jameson Whiskey. Built back in 1895 it's used today as an observation tower and it's one of Dublin's tallest landmarks reaching a height of 60 meters. The viewing tower consists of a two-tier glass enclosed observation platform located at the very top of The Chimney of The Old Jameson Distillery with a glass elevator that will take you to the platform.

Feeling a little tired, I decided to head back to the hostel. I followed the tram line route until I reach the Spires. I chance upon a fresh food market on the way back and bought 5 bananas for €1. I stopped at Tesco to get some broccolis, noodles, chicken cajuns, crisps and water. Here you actually need to pay €0.22 to get a plastic bag from the cashier. Luckily on my way out, I checked my receipt and found the cashier has over-charged me on the chicken caujuns, which was on a special sale. So I went back in and got my overcharged €1.39 back. I know it's not a lot but then again, when you are budget backpacking, every single cent counts. Arriving back to the hostel, I went to the kitchen to cook myself a hot meal. The kitchen is kind of in a mess. The basins were filled with dirty dishes and it took me a while to find the utensils I needed. After my meal, I went back into my dorm to shower and surfed on the internet. I downloaded a couple of songs to keep myself entertained while surfing. The self-catering kitchen just opposite of my dorm room is very noisy tonight. It sounded like there were a bunch of people singing and yelling and having a party in there. It kept going for hours before they finally quieting down at around 11.30pm.

Wednesday 15 July 2009

17 March, 2009 (Tue) - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Day 6

It's St. Patrick's Day today but instead of watching the parade, I'll be going on a day tour to the Giant's Causeway. The dining hall downstairs was quiet crowded with people when I walked in. The Causeway cafeteria is open for business. I went into the self-catering kitchen to grab my muffin, an apple and some hot water for breakfast. Since there are no lockers available in my room, I pass my laptop to the hostel reception for safe keeping. After checking in at the Mini-Couch Tour office, I proceed to board the tour bus. The bus departed around 9.45am, went to the Belfast city centre to pick up some other tourists. Our driver cum tour guide for the day is Alan. Luckily his Irish accent wasn't too strong so I could understand his explanations well. There were about close to 30 of us joining the tour today, mostly with friends or family except me and another guy who are independent travelers. The weather this morning is rather cloudy, misty and cold. Forecast said there might be some light showers later on but hopefully it won't affect our journey.

As we went through the Belfast city, Alan pointed out some buildings and features famous in Belfast. On the bus, I manage to see the other side of the city which I didn’t cover yesterday. Then we finally set out to the North Antrim Coast Road with the sea to my right. After around 15mins out of town, we arrived at our first stop, the Carrickfergus Castle, a castle with Norman architecture. Besieged in turn by the Scots, Irish, English and French, the castle played an important military role until 1928 and remains one of the best preserved medieval structures in the whole of Ireland. This is just a 10mins stop for some photo shots and also the restroom. Continuing on our journey, we are now fully on the countryside with farms, the rolling hills, shorelines and all the wonderful nature sceneries. We then passed by Larne, where you can take a ferry to Scotland. Before arriving at our first main stop of the day, we passes by some lovely little town. According to Alan, if you get lost in these places and asked for directions, the locals will most likely take you to your destination, invite you back to their home where their old granny will stuff you up with so much Irish food, you will leave 3 stones heavier.

Our first main stop is the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, a rope suspension bridge near, Ballintoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny Carrick Island, spanning twenty meters and is thirty meters above the rocks below. We need to pay an entrance fee for this, £4 (with gift aid) or £3.63 (standard ticket). After the ticket booth, I then have to walk about 1 mile before reaching the rope bridge. Only 8 person max can be on the bridge at one time. There is an officer at the bridge controlling the passing traffic and also checks your ticket. First, I descend a steep fleet of staircases to reach the bridge. There is a plank of wood tied onto the rope bridge for easier bridge crossing. It is very windy down at the bridge since its between 2 big rocks but I managed to walked through without holding onto the rope bridge as a challenge ;) It's actually not difficult and not very shaky if you are ok with heights. Over onto the Carrick Island, I just walked around for a bit before returning to the bridge again. This time, I had to wait a little while for the oncoming tourist traffic before I was allowed to cross back to the main island and walked back to the bus. As we pulled out from the car park, we saw a funeral proceeding. In Ireland, men in the villages will walk behind the undertaker's car, forming quite a long line, to the church. This would definitely cause a jam if you were caught behind the line since the road here are normally very narrow. However, we were quite lucky as we just managed to go off before they arrives.

Next up, we arrived at the Old Bushmills Distillery at Bushmills. We have half an hour here so we can go whiskey / souvenir shopping and also maybe have some whiskey tasting at its kitchen. There is a distillery tour (£6) here if you have the time. The Old Bushimills Distillery is celebrating its 400 years anniversary this year and their 400 years old whiskey can be bought as cheap as £14.50 only. Of course there are some higher class range whiskey which costs a lot more. Next to the shop is the Old Bushmills Distillery Kitchen. There is a bar where you can have a whiskey tasting for just £2. I didn't go for the tasting since I'm on empty stomach. When I went back to the carpark, our tour bus is no where in sight. So the few of us who came out earlier had to wait in the cold wind for almost 10mins before the bus came back to pick us up.

Finally at around 3pm, we arrived at the Causeway Hotel next to the Giant's Causeway for lunch (self-paid) before walking to see the Giants Causeway. We will be here for 2 hours. Prior to our arrival, Alan has passed round a menu card so we could pre-order our lunch at the hotel and I ordered a traditional Irish stew for £6.95. We were led into a room and to my slight disappointment, the food weren't served until about 15mins later. I thought the whole idea of pre-booking the lunch is so that we could immediately dig in when we arrived and hence have more time at the Giant's Causeway. Aside from the time wasted waiting, my Irish stew was just what I needed; something hot to warm me up before I brave the cold wind again at the Causeway. The beef are very tender in a bowl of broth of potatoes and carrot. With no time to loose, I quickly had my lunch and went off to see the Giants Causeway.

The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located on the northeast coast of Ireland, about two miles (3 km) north of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant's Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the UK. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (36 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in places.

In order to reach the rocks, you could either walk down the hill's pathway (10-15mins walk) or you could also pay £1 and hop on the causeway coastal bus taking you directly to the rocks. I, of course opted to walk down. The view here is absolutely stunning. Strong currents hitting on the rocks near the shores, the sea water was so clear, its turquoise blue. The rocks have various different colors; some are black, some off-white, some are brown and some red in color. It is quite amazing to see how the rocks stacked against each other so nice and neat, its hard to believe they are all works of the mother nature. You have to be careful though as some of the rocks might be slippery and also you are advised not to go too near to the sea in case you got washed away by the strong currents. Some of the basalt rocks were very tall hence forming higher ground, much like a small hill. Sitting on the rocks, listening to the waves, breathing in the cool fresh air, ahhh... I'm loving every single moment of it.

As the time approaches, I hiked back up the hill toward the hotel's carpark to board the bus. Everybody is back to the bus at the arranged time except a young couple who came back 15mins late and they don't seem to be apologetic at all for their lateness. We then eembarked on an hour and 15mins journey back to Belfast on the motorway, arriving back at the hostel at approx. 6.45pm. Dinner tonight for me is the half pot of yogurt left since I had a very late lunch. Then I went back to my room to pack up, ready to move to Dublin tomorrow.

Photos of Belfast

16 March, 2009 (Mon) - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Day 5

Woke up to a drizzling Monday morning, today I will be going to Belfast. I had my breakfast at the common lounge room today. I had never really come into this room since I checked in 2 days ago. The room's decor are pretty warm and nice. In the drizzling rain, I walked to the bus station. Since today is a working / school day, the town is quite crowded with people. I came out from the ticket counter, just in time to see my bus pulling out of the platform. Two elderly ladies sited at the bench told me to make a run for the bus as the bus will stop to let me get in. So I heeded their advice and ran up. The bus stopped, but the traffic control officer (the man responsible to help signal the bus to pull out from the platforms) wouldn't let me on. He asked me to wait for the next bus in 30mins. Well, no hurry. The ladies were a little surprised that I wasn't allowed to get on the bus. But my guess is that its probably due to my big backpack, which is needed to be stored at the luggage compartment hence I wasn't allowed to board the bus.

At 9.30am, I boarded the Goldline Enterprise's Belfast Express bus, route 212, to Belfast via Dungiven. It is a double–deck bus and I took a seat on the upper deck so I could have a better view. Along the way, we went past some vast farmlands and several little towns. Seeing the lambs and baby lambs on the farms reminded me back to the time when I was touring in Cornwall. Along the way the bus picked up quite a number of passengers to the extend of requiring some passengers to stand as all seats were taken up. After close to 2 hours, we finally arrived at the Belfast Europa Bus Station. I went to the station's toilet and it surely wasn't easy as it is rather small and very crowded. My huge backpack is kind of blocking the way but what needs to be done, needs to be done. One of the inconveniences about traveling alone is when you needed the toilet, you have to carry all your stuff with you. Afterward, I went over to the information counter to check the price and timetable for the bus to Dublin before making my way to my hostel, the Belfast International Youth Hostel.

Arriving at the Youth hostel, I was told I couldn't check in until 1.30pm. So I left my backpack in the luggage room and went out for a walk. Without any information in hand, I just went up the road and soon I come to the Queen's University Belfast. The origins of the University dated back to 1845 when Queen's College Belfast was established as one of three colleges of the Queen's University in Ireland. The centerpiece building (Lanyon Building) is in solid red brick color. The Belfast College became an independent university in 1908. One interesting fact about Queen's University is that the world's first digital soundtrack, used to create the soundtrack for the films "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's List" was produced through technology developed at Queen's.

I walked into the university building, first to the visitor information centre, to get some brochures. Next, I went round the area and visited The Great Hall. The original plan of the Great Hall was taken after the medieval Great Halls of England and the Oxbridge Colleges fell short due to budget cuts. Hence the planned gallery was never built and the paneling remained modest. However, the hall now has a warm, powerful and theatrical space feeling thanks to the restoration work done in 2000. There is a selection of portraits from the University's art collection hung in the Great Hall. Coming out from the university, I went to the botanical garden to visit the Palm House. The botanic garden is an absolute pleasure to wander through. The Palm House is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear and cast iron glasshouse. Once you open the door, you would be immediately overwhelmed by the fragrance of the flowers. Besides the lovely flowers there are also other plants and greens.

As it is already 1.30pm, I went back to the hostel to check-in. I got a £1 discount off my initial booking price when I presented my HI membership card. I was assigned to room 221, a 4 bed mixed dorm, en suite. The room is pretty spacious and spotlessly clean. There are toilet and shower room on the right and left side as you walk in the door. I picked the lower bunk bed near the window and made my bed. Then, I went downstairs to inquire about the Giants Causeway day tour by Mini-Couch Tour I saw downstairs. The brochure's photos and itinerary looks pretty good. Since I was a hostel's guest, I can get £5 off the £25 package price. Although my original plan was to join and watch the St. Patrick's Day parade and celebration in Belfast tomorrow, but I guess the day tour looks more tempting.

With that sorted, I went to the City Hall but unfortunately, it was closed for renovation works. The Belfast Wheel is located next to the City Hall building. It makes me wonder, it seems like wherever you go nowadays, the place would have a "xx-wheel", must be attracting a very good income from the tourism. After some photo snaps, I went to the HSBC bank to withdraw some money and then went to M&S bureau de exchange to buy some Euros. It's rather unfortunate for me to travel to Europe at this time as the exchange rate is very poor. I only managed to get £1 = €1.053 now as opposed to the better times of close to €1.50. Anyway, this is the better rates I've seen so far and I don't have to pay any commission fees. After having the money sorted, I wandered around Belfast town without any specific destination. Belfast is quite a modern city, a little like London, but with a more compact city centre. Following tips from my LP guide book, I went to the famed Crown Liquor Saloon, and viewed it from the outside. The Crown was built in 1885 and displays Victorian architecture at its most extravagant. It has survived a 1993 bomb that devastated the Grand Opera House, just across the road. The weather this afternoon is very nice. Although it is only 11 degrees but without the presence of gushing winds, I felt comfortable walking around even without zipping up my fleece jacket.

Feeling a little hungry, I walked back to the hostel, thinking what to have for dinner. Then I saw Tesco Express and went in to get some food. For dinner tonight, I bought a Chicken and Lemon risotto and also a pot of yogurt. Since no breakfast is provided, I bought some muffins. After dinner, I went back to my room for shower. While writing my diary, my dorm mates came back...and to my surprise they are guys. When I came back to the room earlier on, judging by the type and color of the luggage, I thought my dorm mates are girls. Hahaha, I guess nowadays you can't really tell by type and colors anymore. Well, never mind. They seemed to be nice. The guys went out again after showering, leaving me to my own quiet little spot. Later on, to my surprise again, the guys came back before 11pm. I thought they would be out partying late to the night. That's when we all quiet down and slept.

Saturday 11 July 2009

15 March, 2009 (Sun) - Derry, Northern Ireland - Day 4

Ahh... finally I had the best sleep ever since the start of my journey. Refreshed, I went down to get some breakfast provided by the hostel. It's just something simple i.e. cereals, bread, butter / fruit jam and coffee. After having a quick meal, I ventured out to the city. It's already about 8.30am but the city was still very empty with only a few cars occasionally speeding past, and there are almost no pedestrians in the town. It almost felt like having the town to all to myself. I walked towards the heart of the town, where 'The Diamond War Memorial' stood. The Diamond War Memorial was commissioned on Friday 7th February 1919 and paid for by public subscriptions. It was designed and built by the renowned architect and sculptor, Vernon March and was unveiled on 23rd June 1927 when ownership was handed over to the Londonderry Corporation. The purpose of the erection of the Memorial was to honour those who died as a result of The Great War (1914-1918).


I then make my way to the Museum of Free Derry to join the 'Free Derry Walking Tour' at 10am. I just made it on time to the museum but there wasn't anybody around. The museum is closed on weekends during the winter months so I wasn't sure if there is a tour on Sunday. After waiting for 5mins, I decided to go off on my own, to check out the murals nearby and also the Bloody Sunday Memorial. There were a total of 12 murals, called the People's Gallery, painted by the Bogside Artists (Tom Kelly, Kevin Hasson and Tom's brother William Kelly) representing the Bogside and its people's troubled history. The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry. The area has been a focus point for many of the events of the Troubles, from the Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday in the 1960s and 1970s. The large gable-wall murals by The Bogside Artists and the Free Derry Corner have now become popular tourist attractions. On Sunday January 30, 1972, 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead by British paratroopers during a civil rights march in the Bogside area. Another 13 were wounded and one further man later died of his wounds. This event came to be known as Bloody Sunday. Free Derry was a self-declared autonomous nationalist area of Derry, between 1969 and 1972. Its name was taken from a sign painted on a gable wall in the Bogside in January 1969 which read, “You are now entering Free Derry". Although the building is now torn down, the wall still remains standing.


Afterward, I went back up to the walls for another quick round around the walls before deciding to return to my hostel since there isn't anything going on. Back to the comfort of my hostel bed, I started planning for my entire Europe tour. So far I've only planned until early April to Brugge, Belgium. Now that I have bought my flight ticket to return from Istanbul on the 10th June and then going back to Malaysia on the 13th June, I need to work out the whole itinerary. I ended up spending the whole afternoon and night doing it. It wasn't easy as I haven't done much research on all the places. I just have a rough idea of the places I wanted to go and trying to squeeze in as many places possible, but at the same time not to wear myself out by keep changing places every other night. Initially I thought of visiting the lavender fields in Provence France, but after some research, I realized that the lavenders are best viewed in July. Well, that gives me a good reason to come back next time ;p

Around 5+pm, I went out for dinner. Since I haven't spent a single cent today, I decided to eat at the Ice wharf (equivalent to the JD Weatherspoon in UK), a pub cum restaurant. They are having Sunday Roast today, so for £5.59, I get roast beef, mashed potatoes, a Yorkshire pudding, 2 sage & onion balls, vegetables and a pint of beer. That's a pretty good deal I think. I waited for about 15mins before my food was served and it tasted pretty good. The whole pint of beer was making me just a little tipsy but nice and relaxed. With a full stomach, I went back to the hostel, pack up my luggage and continued on my research.

Photos of Derry

Friday 10 July 2009

14 March, 2009 (Sat) - Derry, Northern Ireland - Day 3

Again, I didn't have a good sleep last night due to several reasons. My dorm mates came in one after another, one arriving pretty late at night while the other lady was snoring so loudly and it's a little hot in the room with the windows shut. I finally gave up at 1.40am and climbed out of my bed to get my mp3 player. With the help of the earphone and music masking the loud snores, I managed to sleep for 3 hours before waking up at 4.45am as I needed to catch the 5.55am bus to London. (You can actually get a direct bus from Cambridge to the airport, but I only found out about this after I had purchased my ticket) I gathered my stuff and sneaked out of the room as quietly possible. Walking towards the bus stop, the streets were quite empty with only occasional car passing by. I reached the bus stop at 5.34am with one other guy who had just arrived seconds before me. Very soon, we were joined by a few more passengers. The bus was quite on-time and we reached London Victoria Coach Station at 7.50am and I proceed on to the Victoria BHP Rd stop 6 to board the bus to Luton airport.

I arrived at the Luton airport about 9.40am. My Ryanair check-in counter was empty so I gladly off-loaded my backpack and went to search for my brunch. I bought the meal deal from Marks & Spencer, where you get a sandwich, a pack of crisps and a bottle of water for just £2. Pretty good deal. After my meal, I went to the departure gate, went through the security checks and proceed to the boarding gate. I thought there won't be many people on this flight but I was wrong. The queue waiting to board the flight was actually pretty long.On board the aircraft, the family sited next to me, a father and son, provided me some 'entertainment' before we took off. The son is around 2yrs old and was a little cranky, so the father had to try ways and means to keep humoring him. Just as we are finally ready to take off, the dad told the son, 'come on son, tell the driver to hurry up'. The kid follow suit and said in his cute little voice, 'come on driver, hurry up'. He is just so cute.

After an hour and ten minutes, we arrived at Derry (Londonderry), Northern Ireland around 1+pm. At the airport information counter, I found out that there is no public bus going into the city until 5pm. Hence my best bet is to take a taxi to my hostel to avoid the long wait. The taxi fare is standard flat fee of £14 and my taxi driver is a nice Irishman and we had a little chat about Derry along the way. It is a little difficult to understand everything he said as he has quite a strong accent. Since it's my first visit to Derry, instead of sending me straight to my hostel, he showed me some o the popular sights around town. He also introduced me to an authentic Irish pub in town, although I don't think I'll do it tonight. I checked-in to the Paddy's Palace Derry hostel for 2 nights stay in a 4 bed mixed dorm. I was the first to arrive again, so I picked the bed next to the window. There are 2 double-deck beds in the room with a bathroom attached. However, there is no way to secure the bathroom door. Guess I won't be using this bathroom for shower ;p I sorted out my stuff and surfed on the net for a while. I managed to have a brief chat with my sis over MSN before I venture out to the town centre. First, I went to the bus station to find out how to get to Belfast from here. Apparently there's a bus every half an hour, the whole journey takes an hour and 40 mins and costs £10.

Derry / Londonderry, the Walled City. The city is the only remaining completely walled city in Ireland and is one of the finest examples in the Europe of Walled cities. These famous walls which dated back to the early part of the 17th century have withstood several sieges, the most celebrated lasting 105 days. The walls encircles the old city, a circuit of one mile. The wall has several gates (7 in total) around allowing the outer world to enter the old city. Each gate has a specific name and each has their own little story illustrated on board. There are fine views from the top of the walls, you could see the city beneath the walls and also residential faraway. You can also see the Bogside area and its defiant murals. It was really windy and cold standing on top of the walls, I could feel my fingers and face freezing. There are still a number of canons exhibited on the walls. On the walls, there are black iron-grill gates after a certain distances; I think these gates will be locked at night.

After a circle around the walls, I went back down to the streets and walked alongside the River Foyle. Then I popped into Tesco to buy dinner (Chicken Tikki Masala rice), some apples, snicker bars and water before heading back to the hostel. After meal, I did some reading up and planning on my Europe trip. Shortly after, I was feeling sleepy due to the lack of sleep for the past 2 nights. I think I'll turn in early tonight and hopefully I can gain a good night's rest on this firm mattress here.

Tuesday 7 July 2009

13 March, 2009 (Fri) – Cambridge, UK - Day 2

First night on my trip and I didn't slept well and woke up at 4.30am in the middle of the night. I managed to go back to sleep and woke up at 7.09am. After freshening up, I stored my laptop and some valuables at the locker downstairs (cost me £1) before going to the restaurant for breakfast which was really great. There are cereals, fruits, yogurts, juices, toast, croissants, fried egg, bacon, baked beans, potatoes, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. This is by far the best breakfast spread from the hostels I had stayed before. I sat down and had a really big breakfast so I could skip lunch later on (another tip to save money) ;p

Full and energized, I ventured out in the cold. Lots of people are either rushing to work or to classes. From what I understand, today is the last day of term for the University students. It took me about 10-15mins to walk to the town centre but half way through I had to stop to put on my knee guard as my knee is starting to hurt. Gosh, I wonder how I am going to survive my 3 months traveling if this knee pain doesn't go away. I stopped at the post office to mail my postcards before I heading to the market square behind the Guildhall. All the stall owners are putting up their produce and stocks ready for the day's sale. I was taking the photos of the market with the St. Mary's Church as my background when a few kids saw me and voluntarily posed for my photo. Seeing the sky is not as cloudy this morning, I thought of going to the King's College again to shoot some photos but unfortunately the college is closed to public today. Phew, lucky that I've already visited the college yesterday.


Walking down the King's Parade, I first arrived at the Gonville & Caius College and wandered into the college courtyard. This is the fourth-oldest college at the University of Cambridge and the third-wealthiest. The College has been attended by many students who have gone on to significant accomplishment, including twelve Nobel Prize winners. It is also one of the most traditional colleges of Cambridge and one of the few remaining colleges which enforces attendance of its students at communal dinners, known as 'Hall'. I was very attracted to the architectural and landscape layout of the college, a sense of sophistication, old yet elegant, with rows of trees at the middle passageway. I could almost imagine myself walking around the college in the college gowns with stacks of books in the hand discussing and debating with my fellow classmates. The back courtyard are where the professors' room are located. Each doors was labeled with alphabets and below it is a plate with several professor's name. Hence I think the few doors we see from the outside are just the communal entrances to the separate professors' room inside.

Next down the road is Trinity College. To enter, you need to pay an entrance fee of £3. Since the Wren library, the chapel and the Halls are not open until noon, I decided to come back later. Right next to the Trinity College is the St John's College where again you need to pay £3 to enter. I saw the Round Church right at the end of the road hence I decided to go over to take some photos. The Round Church / the Holy Sepulchre, is a beautiful Norman architecture and the second oldest building in Cambridge. It was built around 1130, inspired by the original church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. There are only 3 other round churches in the UK. I didn't enter the church but just admire it from the garden bench outside.

After a short rest, I went back to the St John's College. The ticket booth at the main entrance is manned by an elderly guy. I stood in front of the booth ready with money in my hand to pay the admission fee. However he was so focused in his newspaper reading that he didn't noticed me standing in front of him, until I decided to greet him. He was a little startled with my presence and jumps right up on to his feet. I almost felt guilty to have 'scared' him that way although I was very sure that I greeted him with a very gentle and soft voice. He handed me a brochure introducing the college and also the proposed college's walking map after I paid the money. From the map, it is obvious that the whole college area is very huge. Unfortunately visitors are only allowed to a small portion of the college and there are route signs marking the trail. In the brochure, detail information regarding each section of the college marked in the visitor's route is given, highlighting the important features and also some background stories. Following the trail, I am supposed to enter the college chapel via a closed big wooden door. I pushed but the door didn't budge a tiny bit. I tried a second time, no movement. I stood there and studied the door's mechanism and was very sure that it opens pushing in. Then I saw the ring knob on the door, I lifted it up, gave it a turn, and with a slight push forward, the door opens. Laughing at my own stupidity of complicating simple things, I entered the chapel which was constructed between 1866-9 in order to replace the smaller, medieval chapel which dated back to the 13th-century.

After the chapel, I wandered through another few courtyards before finally coming out to the River Cam. From here there is a very good view of the Bridge of Sighs to the north. To the west and south, is the New Court and the St. John's and Trinity College's 'Backs', the name traditionally given to the lawns and gardens of the Colleges to the west of the river. It is really a beautiful place, green fields with a sand trail alongside the river. Slowly strolling along the trail, bit by bit, I fell in love with this place. I ventured to the backs of Trinity College and had a little rest while looking on to the punters along River Cam. From there I made my way out to the city centre again, and visited some artsy independent stores along Green lane and Cresent lane.

The Trinity College was founded by King Henry VIII in 1546, out of 2 earlier colleges (the King’s Hall and Michaelhouse) and some smaller hostels. I entered Trinity College around 1.45pm, the elderly guy at the ticket booth told me to go to the Wren library first before it is closed at 2pm. Taking his advice, I hurried over the huge courtyard to the back where the library is situated with only 10mins to spare. I went into the library and the elderly lady in charge told me to switch off my handphone and hurry up as I do not have much time left. The library is located on the first floor instead of the ground floor as a precaution method. Should there be flood, then those valuable books will not be damaged. Upon entering the library, I immediately understood why this is necessary. Manuscripts and early printed books are kept here in the Wren library. All these ancient books are too valuable and needed the extra care. Sir Isaac Newton’s manuscripts are kept here too. The library is lavishly decorated by limewood carving by Grinling Gibbons and furnished with a notble series of marble busts by Roubiliac of members of the college. The library is not very big but there is separated into several smaller compartments. Each section has a table at the centre so the scholars can do their researches there, so basically it is like a small office.

After the library, I traced back my footsteps to the Great Court of Trinity College. Among the former occupants of the Great Court is Sir Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727), who lived in rooms in the first floor between the Great Gate and the Chapel. In what was once his garden, between the cobbles and the Chapel, is an apple tree descended from one at his home at Woolsthorpe in Linconshire, and planted in 1954. Next to the chapel is the King Edward’s Tower (a clock tower). The clock on the tower chimes the hours twice over. Entering the chapel, I noticed there is an orchestra band in practice. Hence I only took a quick peek inside and left although I must say the music played by the band and the sound effect coming out from the chapel is superb. Near the centre of the Great Court is the fountain. Until recently, its water is supplied by a spring a mile and a half to the west of the College. Taking the stones steps up to the Screens, I came upon the kitchen at the left and also the Hall to the right. The Halls is used daily for meals and also contains the portraits of several notable members of the college. Inside the Halls are 3 very long tables and the students sits side by side to have their meals. It is very much like what we’ve seen the dining experience in the Harry Potter movie. The tour again only showed a small portion of the college to the tourist.

I left the College and walked along the 'Backs' again until I reached the Silver Street, the starting and ending point of the Scudomore's punt tours. There are quite a lot of tourists waiting in line to hire the punts. Some opted to try punting themselves while others opted for the easier way to have a leisure boat tour down River Cam and hire someone else to do it. There are quite many tourists opting to try their own hands on punting hence creating a mess with the traffic. The punts collided with each other and were stuck for a while before they struggled and freed their punts. No doubt it is quite a hard work but I guess its all part of the fun.

Walking towards town, I passed by the Queens College but unfortunately it is closed to visitor. At the other back alley, I saw the bicycle shop where you can have the huge rattan basket attached to your bicycle. Further down is the Pembroke College which is open for visitor. I went in for a look to find what I believed is the student hostels at the back court. After that I went to visit the Fitzwilliam Museum where lots of art collections from around the world are exhibited. Then I walked backed to my hostel and heated up my ready meal I bought from the Co-op store. Back in the room, I packed up my stuff ready for early travel tomorrow morning.

Here are the photos for Cambridge

Monday 6 July 2009

12 March, 2009 (Thu) – Cambridge, UK - Day 1

Today marks the start of my 3 months-long tour around Europe. My first stop is Cambridge, the famous university town in England beside Oxford. In the morning, I followed Mike, my cousin-brother-in-law, to Farnborough (Main) train station to catch a train to London Waterloo station. Unfortunately, the train was delayed by 14 mins, this delay doesn't affect me but it affects Mike as he would be unable to catch his connecting train later on. We parted at Woking train station and I continued on my journey to London Waterloo. From there, I took the tube to Victoria train station and walked to the Victoria Coach station to board the National Express bus to Cambridge. As I was 40mins early, I sat down and read my Lonely Planet guidebook. The bus departed at 10.30am and there are only around 10 passengers on it. On the way, I can't help but think how I'd wish I had a travel companion (my sis or my buddies) beside me. It's rather unusual, as I was always OK to solo traveling. I concluded later that maybe it's because I've been with family and friends for the past 4 months hence this feeling of loneliness. Around 12.40pm, we arrived at Cambridge Park Side bus stop. Coming off the bus, I see a huge open field, the Parkers Piece Recreation Ground, where teenagers kicking football at one corner, while some others just sat at the benches / grass to chit-chat.

It's spring time, yet it was still quite cloudy and cold. With my heavy backpacks on my shoulders, I make my way to the Cambridge YHA hostel. After making some wrong minor detours, I finally arrived at the hostel. While checking in, the friendly reception told me that I could either join the YHA membership for £10 or pay an extra £3 per night (for non-member). Since I'll be staying here for 2 nights and later on staying at Belfast's International Youth Hostel for another 2 nights, hence it make more sense to just sign up for the membership. I was assigned to Room 2, bed 8, a 4 bed female dorm. There are 2 double-deck beds, a chair and a wash basin in the room. Toilets and shower rooms are outside in the hallway. A set of fresh sheets, pillow cases and duvet cover was given so I can make my own bed. There wasn't anyone in the room yet. After sorting out my stuff, I went out to explore the town. Based on the simple map given by the hostel, I tried out another route to go to the bus stop (as I'll be leaving very early Saturday morning). I stopped at Subway to get an Italian B.M.T as my lunch. Yes, I think this is a slightly shorter route than the one I took this morning. With this mission done, I make my way to the tourist information centre where I picked up some main attraction brochures and also 2 postcards.

Cambridge city, is where the world famous university is located. It is built out of the various colleges in town and is filled with undergrads and scholars from all over the world. Bicycles, bicycles, bicycles... everywhere you go, you'll see people on their bicycles whizzing past you, you see bicycles being chained at the side walks / railings. I guess this is one unique feature in a university town, in any university town. Many of the bicycles here have a huge rattan basket tied in front of their bike to store their bags or stuff. Hmmm, makes me yearn studying here and cycle around town on that bicycle too. Crazy huh, my motivation to study is due to the love for the rattan basket on the bike. Hahaha...

I came across the St. Botolph's church, a small but very old church, dating way back to the 14th century. Next to the church is the Corpus Christi College. From the outside, you can only see high walls with an arch door at the middle and a short dark passageway. However, upon entering, it suddenly opens up to a bright big square, surrounded by the buildings at the four sides, and in the middle, there's nothing but a lush green grass field. At each corner of the field, there were signs asking tourists not to step on grass. The right hand side building was marked as 'Private' hence not permitted to visit. I followed the left hand side lane towards the end where there is a beautiful passageway leading to the nice little courtyard at the back. The chapel was closed for the day so I only managed to peek through the glass doors.

Next is the famous King's College housing one of the most impressive buildings in Cambridge, the King's College Chapel. Again, the landscape is similar with buildings at the four sides and grass field in the center. (I wonder if it's the same in all the colleges here?) Since King's College is a working college, hence only the chapel is open to the public. However, the chapel was undergoing some renovation work so part of the building was covered under the scaffolding. The chapel was closed when I got there in preparation for the choir service later at 5.30pm. Going beyond the chapel is another big field before coming to the Cam riverside. Here, you'd see punts going up and down the stream. If you are up for the challenge, you can just rent a punt and try to navigate it along the river Cam; or if you prefer, just pay a small fee of £10 per person to hire a punter (mostly the Cambridge students making some pocket money) to do all the hard work while you just relax and admire the scenery. It's really easy to differentiate the professional punters from the amateurs (tourists). The pros just stood confidently at the back of the boat, pushing and drawing the long bamboo sticks to navigate the punt effortlessly. While doing that, they will also introduce the history of the colleges as they passed by. On the other hand, you would see most of the amateurs struggling to get the punt going smoothly and towards the correct direction. Many times, their punts will either head towards the banks or just circle round the same location and you will hear all sorts of suggestions / commands given by their friends on the punt 'trying' to help the poor punter.

Across the bridge to the other side of the river, there's a white stone with some Chinese character carvings. I went over to have a closer look and realized that was the extract of the famous poem '再别康桥' (Goodbye Cambridge) by 徐志摩 (Xu ZhiMo), written on the way back to China after revisiting Cambridge in 6th Nov, 1928. Xu was here between Oct, 1920 - Aug 1922, and viewed Cambridge as the very important place inspiring his poetry life.

'轻轻的我走了,正如我轻轻的来,我挥一挥衣袖,不带走一片云彩。'
Quietly I take my leave, just as quietly I came here; Gently I flick my sleeves,
Not taking even a wisp of cloud.

The view of King's College from here is simply amazing. It's only about 4.30pm hence I left the college and went to the Guildhall. There are 2 models in front of the Guildhall illustrating the neighboring buildings and colleges, courtesy of the Rotary club. Behind the Guildhall is a market square and the Great St. Mary's Church, the University Church for the University of Cambridge. At 5.15pm, I went back to the King's College Chapel to attend the King's College Choir choral service, an evening prayer services. The choir consists of choral scholars (male students from the college) and choristers (boys educated at the nearby King's College School). There is already a small queue when I got there. The public was first let into the chapel, followed by the choir boys and finally the clergy and his fellow assistant. The choir boys were dressed in black suit with a white overcoats. Everyone was given a booklet so we could follow the proceedings. The choir singing is absolutely amazing. The whole service lasted about 45mins. If you are in town, I strongly recommend you to attend this service even if you are not a Christian.

The chapel is one of the finest examples of late Gothic (Perpendicular) English architecture. It features the breathtaking fan vault, the largest in the word and perhaps the most beautiful ever devised; the 26 great windows containing what is possibly the finest surviving range of pre-reformation stained glass in the country; exquisite heraldic stone sculptures, representing various symbols of the Tudor dynasty; the wooded organ screen (a gift from Henry VIII), dates from 1533 – 1536; and the Rubens masterpiece, The adoration of the Magi, painted in 1634 for the Convent of the White Nuns at Louvain. So if you are like me, want to save a few pounds on the chapel's admission ticket, just attend the evening choral service. You can admire the fantastic architectural designs while listening to the heavenly songs. One stone, three birds.

Coming out from the choral service, the sky is getting dark. Hence I quickly make my way back to the hostel, but of course I got a little lost in the beginning before finally finding my way back. On the way back, I stopped at Sainsbury to get my dinner. Since I wasn't feeling very hungry, I just bought a Quarter Pounder Chicken burger and a pint of Organic milk. It's quite a long way back and my legs are really tired by the time I reached the hostel. I heated up my burger at the self-catering kitchen alongside other hostelers preparing their dinner too. Luckily mine just took a minute in the microwave to heat up. Later, I went back to my room to find another dorm mate checked in. The hostel shower sometimes gives out lukewarm water but the good thing is you don't have to keep pushing the knob to keep the water flowing unlike some other hostels I've been to before.