off to dublin

2008-10-14T16:32:00.011+08:00

14th & 15th September - Departure and Arrival Date

At Changi airport.
We are getting ready for IRELAND!

However, our flight was delayed for about an hour. Due to 1 of the passenger's luggage was missing.

We were all getting uber excited about flying but the delay was such a chore. Okay maybe I'm the only one getting excited as I have not sit on a plane for YEARS.

Okay get back to the topic.
So we were supposed to depart at 2305 but end up the plane only took off at 0015. By then, all of us were half asleep. The flight was alright. Some of us typically knock out in the 13 hours flight to London Heathrow while others watch movies and eat.

When we reach London, we had to take another flight to Dublin as we missed our initial flight which departs at 745. We got our replacement flight and managed to reach Dublin airport around 10 plus in the morning.

(video of us in London airport)

When we went to collect our baggage at the belt, we realized that our 2 tripod were missing and did not see them on the belt at all! We had to enquire about our missing tripod bags at the baggage counter. Julian, Huizhen and Bernard went over to report missing baggage while the rest look after the belongings. I guess they met a problem in explaining how a tripod bag looks like. I think they describe it as a rifle bag. WOW.

After reporting, the staff said that they will send our tripods to our hotel once they have it. So now we had to find our way to Kingston Hotel. Julian asked Kym, Joshua and I to check out at the tourism board which bus we can take to our hotel, and the lady told us that there’s public transport BUS 746 which goes to Dun Laoghaire (which is a small town where our hotel is located) but it takes an hr half to reach.

Time was an issue as we were all dead tired after the delay and transferring of flight and the thought of lugging our heavy luggage up on a public bus just put us off. So we asked if there’s a private coach which send us to the nearest and we managed to get on it.

We got on the bus, cost us 8Euro each. In the bus, there was a very kind couple that direct us how to get to our hotel from where we alight (which is at Royal Marine hotel). The girl who collected our bus fare has long blue nails and thick mascara, chewing bubble gum. I guess it's her vacation job. *shrug

The most challenging part is here.
After we alighted and on the way to Kingston Hotel, we had to go through this ridiculous turn-around thingy which has just enough space for a person to go through at a time. And guess what? Due to insufficient space for our heavy and bulky luggage to go through the turn-around-thingy, beside that was a locked gate. So all the macho guys in our group, (which is nearly none) try to get our luggage across the gate one by one. Huizhen and Novem the 2 macho girls went to help the not so macho guys after seeing them carrying it so XIN KU. As for me, hee im not a very strong girl as you can see. I was holding the DV camera and busy shooting this ridiculous yet memorable scene. PLS REFER TO VCR~

(video)

After the torture, we all were super tired, all thanks to my luggage (weighs 27kg). We made our way to our hotel.

When checking in, we realized that our names were all jumbled up! We were laughing at how our names can be so funny and nevertheless, we got our own room cards and its unpacking time.

Our rooms were warm and cozy, but kinda give us a pretty weird feeling. Indescribable. Oh well, we shrug it off.

OUR ROOM VIEW.
We went to check out Julian's room. He's got the nicest view of all man! But the corridors leading to his room was pretty eerie...
Check out the video!

(video)

After being excited about where we gonna sleep for whole 2 weeks, Julian suggested that we should walk around our hotel area. And guess what we found? The cheapest shop we can find in Dun Laoghaire!

THE ULTIMATE 2EURO SHOP!

EVERYTHING'S ONLY 2EURO!
And all the shops dont accept 500 EURO!

We walked around the hotel and checked out MAC, BURGER KING's prices. We also went to bookstores and all their nude models book were artistically done. Interesting.

As we walked, WE FOUND SUBWAY!
Bought subway and all of us ate our dinner by the bay.
There's alot of interesting severely overweight pigeons that are not afraid of humans.

It started drizzling so we all went back to the hotel for a nice warm bath and gathered around Huizhen Meimei's room for some UNO games.

Cant wait to tour around the school tomorrow!

Before we go,
some retarded photos.

*PS. Kym's the photographer. THANK YOU!

2008-10-14T15:40:00.009+08:00

16th September - Tour in IADT

First meeting with the school committee today in IADT Dun Laoghaire.
Just a list of the school committee and a few others.

Director of IADT - Jim Devine
Registrar - Dr. Annie Doona
Head of Department of Art & Design - Liam Doona
Student Union - Ciara Mcllraith

Jim and the others sincerely welcome us to Dublin and hope that we will have a good time here.
Of course we do!

After the meeting, we went for a quick tour around IADT.

Animation Room.

(photo of TV studio)

School's main square.

They have their own small apple orchard.

After the quick walk, Ciara, the student union president invited us to have a look at their freshie's week's programme - THE IRON STOMACH.

ok i shall not explain what it is.
have a look yourself. =)

(video of iron stomach)

We had an interview with one of the contestant.

(interview of the contestant)

We went back to our hotel area and had a walk around the bay. It was freezing.
We took alot of retarded photos, however all lost due to technical problem of the poor camera memory card. =(

Grabbed Subway for dinner. After Julian went back to his room, we channel-surfed to a sex education channel. Photos of * were shown on air which will never see in SG.

for more information, click this link. *wink.

Sex Education Show

2008-10-14T15:12:00.002+08:00

17th September - Lesson with Michael Mc Nally

We had a tour around the National Film school and had a small little lesson with Michael Mc Nally who's in charge of the Television Production and ______ McGuinnes who's the radio broadcast expert.

We tried their television camera in their TV studio and it was quite fun.
Watch this video to know what else we do!

(video of us in TV studio)

After a short TV programme lesson, Michael treated us coffee for a short break and we were back for more lessons on radio broadcasting and those old audio machines.

(video of us in radio room)

We had so much fun learning about their broadcasting and different kinds of equipments they used in the past. Quite amazed by it. We went back to hotel after that.

The sky was really nice when we were on our way back.
Julian suggested that we should go out for a shoot since the sky was really beautiful after we rest for half an hour.

Well, things just don't go our way. During the half an hour break IT RAINED heavily. So sad.

So we had to stay in our hotel and discussed about our travel log and the usual slacking in Huizhen's Meimei's room.

During the night when everyone went back to their rooms, once again, programmes that you will never see on TV back in SG.

"Get Naked With Me."

just a geez of what's shown in the TV there. *wink

and we had the most horrible FISH AND CHIPS for dinner this time round.
Almost like drinking oil.

Therefore we have to find Dublin's famous Leo Burdock's Fish and Chippers one day!

2008-10-14T02:47:00.027+08:00

18th September - Museums Outing with Mark

The sky is extremely beautiful today
the weather was just nice, everything was perfect.

During breakfast.

julian! its a lovely day! can you dont give such a gloomy face!?

Julian: (smiles)
yeah. this is much better.

group photo by the bay.

We took the DART down to Pearse Station to meet Mark,
it's the first time we are taking the dublin train.

machines that sells tickets.

At the train railway.

while waiting. . .

doing work ok!

yes, while waiting...

world of cultures

OH! here comes the DART!

first time sitting in the DART.

enjoying the window view.

seats are not for feet! it's for buttocks.

irish kid.

AT Pearse Station.

doing work at the same time.

the Very first Gallery we went to.

interesting collection of Artists' works and art magazines.

Mark, our tour guide for the day!

flipping through.

The Awesome video

along the way to the National Library.

the national Library.

The famous William Butler Yeats
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1923

Biography

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was born in Dublin. His father was a lawyer and a well-known portrait painter. Yeats was educated in London and in Dublin, but he spent his summers in the west of Ireland in the family's summer house at Connaught. The young Yeats was very much part of the fin de siècle in London; at the same time he was active in societies that attempted an Irish literary revival. His first volume of verse appeared in 1887, but in his earlier period his dramatic production outweighed his poetry both in bulk and in import. Together with Lady Gregory he founded the Irish Theatre, which was to become the Abbey Theatre, and served as its chief playwright until the movement was joined by John Synge. His plays usually treat Irish legends; they also reflect his fascination with mysticism and spiritualism. The Countess Cathleen (1892), The Land of Heart's Desire (1894), Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), The King's Threshold (1904), and Deirdre (1907) are among the best known.

reference: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1923/yeats-bio.html

in the library.

on the way to Trinity College.

About Trinity College - The University Of Dublin.

Trinity College builds on its four-hundred-year-old tradition of scholarship to confirm its position as one of the great universities of the world, providing a liberal environment where independence of thought is highly valued and where staff and students are nurtured as individuals and are encouraged to achieve their full potential.

The College is committed to excellence in both research and teaching, to the enhancement of the learning experience of each of its students and to an inclusive College community with equality of access for all. The College will continue to disseminate its knowledge and expertise to the benefit of the City of Dublin, the country and the international community.

Historical buildings.

Julian and Mark in one of their deep conversations.

it's time for a meal!
At Buttery.

what' with his face?

pigeons all around.

thats all about trinity,
for more information: http://www.tcd.ie/

moving on..

Grafton Street!

that's where people goes for shopping.

Palace Bar!

Red Lemonade

Artist Gallery.

Photography Gallery.
Does the building look like a camera?

We walked past The Ark (a children's exhibition) and we watched some short films which were showing at the Film Base. After so much museums visiting, we said farewell to Mark and we continued exploring the town area.

We had subway for dinner today!

2008-10-14T02:38:00.005+08:00

19th September - Culture Night

Free and Easy day! For museums visiting.
Tonight in Dublin City there's a very interesting event going on. It's called the Culture Night.
Culture Night landed all over the country on Friday September 19th as hundreds of tourists and locals swarm to different museums.

Organised by Temple Bar Cultural Trust, Culture Night Dublin sees over 100 museums, galleries, theatres and more open their doors late into the night for FREE and for one night only every September across Dublin city.

This late night cultural feast offers something for everyone making this a fantastic opportunity to explore and discover Dublin’s cultural life by night!
We were considered lucky as we were in Dublin just when this event of the year happens.
Quite cool huh.

There's too many museums to cover, so we filtered out a few that we find that it's necessary to cover.

Took Dart to Pearse station again.

Just when we walked out of the station, near Trinity College there's a Robot exhibition which attracted us to. The exhibition was quite cool.

This robot can solve the rubik's cube just by registering the images of the unsolved puzzle to its system and count its time when solving it. Intelligent one.

After the robot exhibition, we went for a little shopping as we were still early for the Culture night.

We walked past this fast food restaurant called "Supermac" which is much like a Macdonald + KFC kind of thing.
They have fried chicken set meals and also burgers meal.
We ordered a family fried chicken feast so all of us can share.

The taste of it was not too bad.
But I think "Popeye's" fried chicken in Changi Airport taste better.

After some leisure time, we start to visit the museums at about 5pm.
1st stop we went to the National Museum, where we learnt about the Vikings, Kingship and scarifies and more.

We spent longer time in National Museum that we thought, so we skipped off the next destination and went on to City Hall.
City Hall hosts "The story of the Capital." It houses the City Treasures such as chains, swords and mace of Lord Mayor along with medieval manuscripts and costume.
Too bad we can't take much photos when in museums.

At Dawnson Street we saw some Street Performance. The band was awesome and quite interactive with the camera. Audiences were also dancing along with it. We gave them some token and took CDs from them.

Expensive Street.

Next stop was supposed to be St. Mary Pro-Cathedral but we saw some interesting mascot on the way.

We decided to stop by some shots of the Cultural Night Mascot and headed back to grab some food from Mac before we took the bus back to the hotel.

Our first time taking bus back to our hotel from town.
There's this kind lady who directed us which stop to alight. I'm quite surprised that we always have kind people showing us directions whenever we look lost or lost.
Can see that Irish people are really friendly and kind-hearted!

Once we reached hotel, we were dead beat.
Julian said : "I have never walked so much in my life until now!"

see. we walked alot.

2008-10-14T01:36:00.025+08:00

20th September - Outing with Liam, Annie, Jim and Jim's son-in-law

So nice to be brought around Dublin with good companions, especially to those places that are not tourist attractions. It tells us alot more stuffs about Ireland.

Liam and Annie came to pick us up from the hotel with their Land Rovers and they drove us around to see some super stars's houses. We were practically wow-ing at the beautiful houses they have and hectares of land they own. The beautiful scenery and fantastic view at the bay were just so amazing.

We drove by Vico Road, which is at Killiney and is where Bono from U2 lives. Nice Houses they've got!

I guess all of us wanna migrate over!

1st location : On the way up to Sugar Loaf (Mountain)

Nice view isn't it? Photos can't do judgement to the splendid view man.

Here's a short video of the whole scenery.

(video)

Group picture.

2nd location : Enniskerry Village.

We walked around and saw Ice Cream!
(teddy's photo)

Thanks Liam and Annie for treating us all yummy ice cream cone!

You guys must be wondering why are we still eating ice cream in such cold weather?
It's because the sun's out and the temperature wasn't as cold around the bay there's not much wind so it was kind of warm yet cooling.

Such nice weather which we can't get it in SG.

After the yummy ice cream, we went over to this antique pub around the corner for a quick lunch.

Vegetable soup with soda bread.

Seafood Chowder Soup.
Our 2nd time trying Guinness Stout.
The girls had half a pint of Guinness while the guys had a pint each.

Half a pint glasses

1 pint glasses.

Why are they so angry with Julian?!

*Cause he never finish his Guinness.

3rd location : Powerscourt

Powerscourt is one of Europe’s great treasures and Ireland’s most famous House & Gardens. Gracing the Wicklow mountains, 20km from Dublin city centre, Powerscourt is a heritage property with a surprising difference.

We didn't really walk around the garden as it was too huge and we had not enough time to.

4th Location : Sugar Loaf

When we climbed up the muddy yet rocky road and saw the wonderful scenery.
I think its a view to die for.

Once a life time experience.
Only one word to describe when we were on the top of the mountain. WOAH.

Can you see the white thing there?
It's a house by itself. I wonder why they get their daily supplies from. Helicopter?

Here's a short video, to show you guys how beautiful the scenery is.

(video)

The lucky flower.

Huizhen and Joshua going down hill.

That's Julian. What do you think he look like he's doing? *wink wink*

Oh no. I think I no need to explain. *beams*

SERIOUSLY IN FRAME.

Novem can't even open her eyes.

Where's Kym?!

Now's Huizhen's turn.

Bernard : EWWW. There's mud!
Huizhen : Nevermind la, let's go.

Bernard : No~ There's still mud!
Huizhen : *gone far*

On our way back, we saw a flock of sheep! AHHHHH!
*screaming in the background*

THEY ARE SO CUTE.
When we saw it we practically went frantic and "chasing" the sheep down the country road.
And Liam was like telling Julian that this should be the first time that 6 Singaporeans chasing a flock of sheep down the Ireland countryroad.

Yea I agree with him. *nod nod*

To have slightly more ideas on how frantic we can be. Kindly watch this video.
(video of us following e sheep)

We followed them up the road but the sheep were way too fast running away. So we got on the car instead and slowly drive with the sheep. It was a pity we can't get too near them as they were too shy, so we didn't managed to have a chance to touch them.

5th location : German Nazi Cemetery

Liam brought us to this very unique place where all the German Nazi soldiers / pilots' airplane crashed at the spot where they were buried.
Beside the cemetery there's a very nice waterfall view.

This flower's called the buttercup.
Liam said that if you put this flower under your chin and it glows, means you are a butter-lover!
I wonder if its true. But definitely, it's a very pretty flower. Don't you think so?

Conclusion :
No doubt we were rushing here and there due to lack of time, however we really did enjoyed ourselves as everything that were being showed to us were just practically a feast to our eyes and brains. Definitely learnt alot during this outing.

FUN and FRUITFUL day~

2008-10-14T01:18:00.008+08:00

21st September - Free and Easy Day

Free and Easy Day = SHOPPING DAY!
GOOD right~

Had breakfast and we took Dart to town again.

Old School Commercial.

They pay people just to sit there and point out the direction of their shops.

And pay people to cycle around with advertisements.

Painters around anywhere.
Professional busker too.

His voice is fantastic man. He can go sing opera already.
POWERFUL!

We just can't get rid of the shopping mood.

Horse carriage. I WANNA RIDE!

We went in the Irish Gift shop again.
TO SHOP FOR MORE GIFTS.
I think this is our 5th time if I'm not wrong.

AND Julian swear that we are not going in ANYMORE. Cause we will spend again.

Eh Julian, i think the gifts we bought not even enough! SHALL WE GO IN AGAIN? *eyes blinking*

Bernard tried on the leprechaun hat.

After a day's shopping and sightseeing, we were all tired but happy cause we've got more gifts for everyone!

2008-10-14T01:16:00.004+08:00

22nd September - Unexpected day

Today we went over to IADT for an audio recording session with the traditional musicians but because of unforeseen circumstances, we had to change our plans for today.

We immediately planned for another interview with the fine art lecturer, Mark Joyce who brought us out to the museums the other time. So we sat down for discussion on the questions while having our lunch in the school canteen.

(video)

After the interview, we roam around the school compound with our camera equipments and decided to pop a few random questions to the students in IADT. Once we are done, Liam gave us our student account in IADT so that we are able to use the school computers to log on for internet access.

FINALLY. We can use internet!
The next thing you realised is that everyone (especially Julian) is stuck in front of the computer, waiting for the computer to log us in and writing long emails.

SEE, we so happy. *By the way, we took this picture when the computer is taking about 10 minutes to log in our student account.*

We left school early after bombarding our friends and family's mail box and chat logs.
We also walked around our hotel area looking for our dinner and we dropped by Dunnes ( a department store) to buy a bottle of wine.

Back to hotel, craziness started.
We played "Heart attack", "Bluff", unimaginable "True or Dare" (after some alcohol) and last but not least, THE VIOLENT PILLOW FIGHT.

for more viewing pleasure, you may wanna go onto this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nOG5IPrmSc&eurl

All the fun and laughters were making us all crazy and tired.
Sweet dreams of course.

*PS. Julian wasn't with us at all. He's enjoying his view in his room and freezing his *** off as his heater wasn't working. Poor thing.

2008-10-13T23:20:00.021+08:00

23rd September - Glendalough

More sightseeing! With Liam and Annie!

Sad case that Meimei was actually very happy over her shadow being so tall and slim. *unlike her figure now*

*ahem* We took a dart down to Greystones to meet Liam and we managed to squeeze 7 people in his Land Rover plus him of course, 1 camera bag and 1 tripod. COOL RIGHT.

And in his car got his pet spiders. which Meimei scared of. *actually Bernard also afraid of spiders*

We stopped by a reservoir, forget the name for it but there's amazing architecture and we can see sunrays shining on the hills. Fantastic view but freezing as it was extremely windy that you are able to see the clouds passing by fast.

We went over to Glendalough for more fantastic architecture.

Fantastic view of a rapid.

Huizhen trying to get shots of such nice scenery.

THE WATER IS COLD.

SUPER comfortable grass bed! No ants!

Bernard : WOAH. So many spider webs on the bushes!

A long walk more to the main tourist attraction.

St Kelvin Church.
Some information about it :

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.

See the tall tower there?
Its The Round Tower.

This fine tower, built of mica-slate interspersed with granite is about 30 metres high, with an entrance 3.5 metres from the base. The conical roof was rebuilt in 1876 using the original stones. The tower originally had six timber floors, connected by ladders. The four storeys above entrance level are each lit by a small window; while the top storey has four windows facing the cardinal compass points. Round towers, landmarks for approaching visitors, were built as bell towers, but also served on occasion as store-houses and as places of refuge in times of attack.

If you are able to hug this cross and your fingers are able to touch, make a wish and it will come true.

FOOD!

this is call Panini - bread with ham and tomatoes.

After a quick lunch, Liam brought us over to his place for a cup of tea.
HIS PLACE IS GORGEOUS.
I think all of us wanna live there already.

The amount of land he have.

Dartsy~

Nice view to see every morning when you sitting at the dining table for breakfast. =)

We had some tea in the cold weather, and we played with his pet dog Dartsy!

Joshua : Dartsy, Leave. Give me the stick.
Dartsy : WOOF. *biting on the stick*

No matter how many times we ask him to leave the stick for us so we can ask him to fetch, he just wont let go of it.

Cows on the field beside Liam's place.

Liam sent us back to Greystones station so we can take Dart back to our hotel.
Before heading back, we bought our dinner (Four stars Pizza) and went back to hotel for a feast.
Can't wait to eat chinese food tomorrow at Ciara's house!
Everyone's been missing food in SG!

Today was another fruitful day.
Beautiful scenery, nice dog to play with, a gorgeous house to dream living in it, and of course good companion.
What more can one ask?

2008-10-13T01:53:00.007+08:00

24th September - Ciara's House (cooking chinese dinner)

Cooking Chinese food in a foreign country a foreign house for foreigners were just so fun and exciting.

After breakfast, we head down to 2 different scale of Asia Markets in the City area (Ciara's recommendation).

1st stop: Asia Store (small scale)
End of O'Connell Street

We bought whole lot of things like lemongrass, fried beancurd etc and some Asia condiments.

2nd stop: Asia Market (bigger scale)
Near Grafton Street

It's Yeos. Quite surprised to see it here though.

Julian : We should go get it there!

Japanese crackers : 2.50EURO.
SGD$5 AH. SO EXPENSIVE.

A tray of eggs.

After purchasing MORE ingredients, we had a walk through a place which looks like Bugis.

Before going back, we saw a leprechaun mascot in the middle of the city.

Went back to hotel with big bags of food.
Ciara met us in the hotel while Julian and Kym went to get frozen chicken wings etc.
Had a small talk with Ciara about our culture and she was quite amazed by how different races can live peacefully with each other. *shrug

Ciara's parents' house was about 15 min walk away from our hotel.
Once we reached her house, Kym, Meimei, Bernard and Novem started preparing for tonight's dinner.

What about the others?
They went out for a walk with Ciara and was amazed that in such cold weather there's actually people swimming in the sea.

I guess all of us wont even wanna put our small toe in.

FREEZING~

Huizhen and Joshua caught a seal swimming along the bay. Quite cute actually.

Dinner was ready and served.

Our Irish friends were very pleased with our cooking. YIPPEE.
Menu : Curry Chicken, Healthy fried bee hoon, honey baked chicken wings, fried dumplings, Tuna in cucumber, Barley for dessert.

After the satisfying meal, we went ahead to interview Ciara and friends. It was just like a casual talk.

By the time we were done, all of us were dead beat.

Walked back to hotel around 12plus am. cold but was kind of nice feeling to be walking in a "deadtown" with all the laughters and fun. =D

2008-10-12T14:54:00.017+08:00

25th September - Dublin Bus Tour

We decided to be tourists today.
So we spent 13EURO (student price, for Julian is 15EURO) just to sit the bus tour around Dublin City.

Main intention : To get all the necessary shots of the tourist attractions.

So we head down to Pearse Station by Dart.

Julian emo-ing on train.

while waiting for Dublin Bus Tour.

we managed to sit on top of the bus!

everyone staring at our P2 camera.

Guinness Brewery.

A funny figurine with a pint of "Guinness" by the broken window.

Group shot!

when the strong wind blows. all turned ugly~

Joshua cant stand his hair to be messy, so he went in front of the bus where the wind is blocked.

Oh ya! When we go the toilet, we were surprised by the choices of light they use for their toilet.
IT'S NEON BLUE.

It was sort of a new thing to us as in SG all the toilets uses normal white light. And what's so interesting was when you come out of the blue toilet, everything under normal light were super in contrast!

Okay enough of wowing about the interesting toilet.

We walked around the city and went for some shopping places that Ciara had recommended us to go. It's much like our SG Isetan or Metro (which they call it H&M).

We walked to Dublin Castle to get some shots.

Weird but distinctive sculpture on their architecture.

WE MANAGED TO FIND THE MOST POPULAR FISH & CHIPPERS (with vinegar and salt)!
LEO BURDOCKS.

SUPER YUMMY!

Had our early dinner, which made all of us super full.
Hence, MORE WALKING.

Its actually a bar of fattening chocolate. (not for girls)
While walking, we saw a chinese restaurant.
WHICH SERIOUSLY SUPER DUPER EXPENSIVE.

LOOK AT THE PRICE!

There's also a lot of street beggars around. Quite sad actually.

Their laptop was surprisingly cheaper than ours. Not sure if the specifications were alright.

Joshua trying to get a shot of the city life.

Went back hotel with shopping bags full of satisfied items around evening. =)

Novem and Huizhen bought alot of CDs.
After slacking in our room for awhile, we decided to go to the pub downstairs to chill.

3 men, 1 internet access. What else?

We ordered Irish Coffee and Baileys Coffee.

4 Irish Coffee and 1 Baileys Coffee.

After drinking, all of us feel so warm. Guess it was because of the alcohol content in the coffee.

The Bar.
Went back to room to review footages.
Had a discussion on another documentary idea. Also to prepare questions for tomorrow's musician interview.

Everyone KO at 2am. Sweet dreams.

Something to add on.

PLEASE LOOK CAREFULLY when purchasing stuffs at Asia Store.
THEY ARE EXPIRED. but still selling at a cheaper price.

EWWW.

2008-10-12T01:23:00.005+08:00

26th September - IADT Music Recording

Today we had an special interview arranged just for us with some traditional Irish Musicians.
They were extremely friendly!

Irish Pipes are so amazing. Melodies played were soothing to the ears, feeling peaceful when listening to it and for no reasons, images of Ireland scenery will just flood your mind.

Alright enough of imagining.

We took a group photo before leaving!

Had lunch in the campus, then all of us excitedly walked to the library to use their com for awhile. Internet access! *yay*

After sending long emails and busy updating facebook, we went for a meeting with the school committee. Ciara (Student Union President) gave us IADT T-shirts!

Liam, Julian, Annie, Ciara and Jim.

Thank you for the LITTLE PROVERB BOOKS!
So nice of you guys to give us that!

Nearly cried during the meeting as it was sort of a "farewell" meeting.
You guys are great. Nice meeting you all!

Walked around the school for the last time before going back.
Met the Audio expert!
Took a picture with him!

After all the exchanging of contacts and goodbye-seeyouagain, we went off for dinner and back to hotel for more transferring to be done.

2008-10-10T11:28:00.014+08:00

27th September - Liam and Annie's house (Cooking chinese dinner)

The day we had been waiting for... To cook a Chinese meal for Irish people. Sort of a thanksgiving treat for their kindness in bringing us around Ireland.

We still have those Asian cooking condiments with us after the Ciara's dinner treat, so Kym and Julian just went ahead to purchase the frozen food like chicken wings for the curry and others.

Asia Store in Dublin City. DAMN EXPENSIVE.

We met Liam at the Greystones station after taking Dart from Dun Laoghaire. He came to pick us up with his Jeep again. When we reach his place, we started preparing the ingredients before we cook.

Hui Zhen cutting fish cake for the fried bee hoon.

BEWARE. She is dangerous! OOPS. she is smashing the lemongrass for the curry.

Wild berries picked by Joshua and Hui Zhen when they went to flim.

Marinated Curry Chicken

Cooked Tao Po for curry.

Meimei cutting the squirmy mushroom.

Bacon Wrap with Golden Mushroom

Dartsy lying in the middle of the kitchen accompanying us.

Novem pro in cooking already!

Joshua and Bernard frying the chicken for curry.

Tuna in cucumber. Cold appetizer.

Fried Bee Hoon. By Hui Zhen and Meimei

Pan fried bacon wrap with golden mushroom.

Slightly toasted bread for dipping in the curry!

Bread crumbs brinjal

A table full of yummy food

Joshua talking to Jim.

It's Kym's 19th birthday! So we gave her a surprise!

Birthday girl cutting her pie.

CANDID!

Julian was busy eating red bean soup (dessert).

Oh ya! Annie brought out a bottle of Irish Whiskey for us to try! Its called Jameson. Was quite strong, Bernard and Novem loved it as they say that the liquor ends with a sweet tingling taste. Where as the rest just think that it is too strong for us!

After dinner's served and celebrating Kym's birthday, we went ahead to interview Jim. It was getting late so we had to make a move. Liam and Jim were so kind to send us back in their cars as there's no more train back to our hotel.

I guess we were too tired after the cooking.
We slept through the whole journey.

Reached hotel around 12plus am.
Sweet dreams.

2008-10-10T04:08:00.001+08:00

28th September - Sunday Market and a good meal day~

Today shall be our last weekend spent in Ireland, so we went to the Sunday Market in People's Park which is about a mile away from our hotel.

dunno why Julian likes to emo one side. *s _ o _ i _ _* fill in the blanks~ *ahem*

THAI CURRY 8EURO. SO EXPENSIVE.

Julian fascinated by the DVDs and CDs.

CHEESE stall.

this is nice! Chocolate something.

the purest Irish apple juice I ever drank.

All chocs. Handmade.

Go Green. Drink juices. :)

After the Market, we went back to hotel to rest awhile before we head out again.
Hui Zhen and Joshua went over to the bay to shoot some nice scenes while the rest were in Meimei's room transferring footages. It was then we realised that there's actually 429 files missing in our hard disk. This means that all those nice shots that Hui Zhen and Joshua took were all GONE. All of us were pretty upset over the missing footages. We called Julian and informed him. He suggested that we should head down to town to get those neccessary shots of city life before we head back to SG with nothing. Our main intention to go down town was to go to a pub to film those traditional Irish musicians' performance. Half-dead, we all went out without a second word.

Headed down to town to do Vox-Pox and we met this ultra friendly lady who offers to help as she thought that we were lost. Such a adorable girl we have met.

BERNARD, she likes you more than others! tsk tsk.
Hui Zhen was like saying this girl made her day after the missing-footages incident. She is really kind. We exchanged contact with her and hope that one day she will come over to SG so we can show her around.

After that, we were all hungry. So we decided to walked to the area where the pub we were going later. We roamed around the area to see if there's any restaurant so we can have our dinner.

We found Mona Lisa Restaurant! Italian cuisine!

JULIAN WITHOUT SPECS!

EVIL JULIAN.

As you can see, the portion for the meal was pretty huge, I had trouble finishing my meal. I guess the rest was rather full too. 1 starters, 1 main course and 1 dessert for 19.95EURO. worth right!
after the full meal, we proceed to the pub where we supposed to go. We ordered Hot Whiskey with blackcurrent. Was quite nice. In such cold weather, drinking a hot whiskey was a brillant choice.

About half an hour or more, took Dart back, Hotel sweet Hotel.

2008-10-09T17:53:00.001+08:00

29th September - Packing day~

The day that Julian was hoping for and 6 of us dread going home.
We ate our last breakfast in Kingston hotel then go back to our individual room to pack our stuffs no is to squeeze our stuffs into our luggage. (okay i bought too many things)
Liam came down to meet Julian for a cup of coffee before we go, and he was such a kind soul! He offered to drive our heavy luggage to the pick up point so we no need to go through the turn-around-thingy with our luggage again.
We lugged our hand carry to the pick up point of the bus to airport, Liam and Julian arrived in the car with all our luggage.

Liam went off after helping us unload.

in the bus.
We arrived in Dublin Airport early so we can walk around and had a few bites before going on plane.

see the amount of hand carry we have. (apologies the picture's slightly dark)

Everyone's busy doing their own stuffs and our flight was delayed for an hour again. Due to changing of plane tyre. Hence, we arrived in London Heath row late! We only have freaking 15 minutes to rush from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 to catch our British Airways flight. What's worse, we had to take a train from T1 to T4. I can tell you, we were utterly tired after the rush man. We were the last few who board the plane, and according to Julian, once we board it, the plane door immediately closed after us.

PHEW. Lucky we got to the plane fast, if not we have to wait again and cannot get back SG in time! Again, slept in plane, watch movies and get up to the toilet in the 13 hours flight.
but this time round! there's 2 SG stewardess in the plane, and they were very friendly!

Back to SG excitedly. and guess what? our luggage still in LONDON. *sobz*
Made the neccessary reports and head home after that!

HOME SWEET HOME.