To run or to fight?

If you are planning to go to Spain next year or even any time soon and wonder which one is nicer to watch, I can definitely recommend the bull run! It's so much more exciting than anything else!

For the bullrun, It's like you are hoping that nothing bad will happen to anyone but at the same time secretly hoping that something will happen (nothing major of course!) during the run to spice it up! I know I'm a bit mean here... but I'm pretty sure most people feels that way too! =D

If you watch the video, you'll notice that there's a man that was stampede by the bulls... ouch.. Just glad that it wasn't me there!



However, if you are watching the bull fight... well, to be honest, bull fight is only fun to watch during the 1st match or even the 2nd match, by the 3rd match, you'll secretly hope that the bull will smarten up and attack the Matador instead of chasing after the dress cape... Again, I may sound mean, but trust me, you'll feel the same if you see what they did to the poor bull!

1st, they make the bull tired by fooling around with it.
2nd, a picador on horseback will stab the bull twice
3rd, 3 banderilleros will stab the bull again with 2 razor like stick each to wound the bull even more
then only finally, the Matador will kill the bull by stabbing it with a sword between the shoulder blades and through the aorta or heart (after at least 15 minutes of fooling around with the wounded bull!)
That's when you secretly hope that the bull will charge and attack him!




This video was taken after the 10th million times I press 'stop & record' in order to capture the Matador maneuvering the cape, putting the sword into the bull and slowly watching the bull dies..

One thing about bullfight that you will like is that the bull fight arena is divide to 2 section. Sol & Sombre (shaded & not shaded) Not shaded one is the one that no one really pays attention to the bull fight, instead, they squirt Sangria with watergun on everyone (ESPECIALLY TOURISTS!!!), throw fruits at you.. making sure that you are soaking wet with Sangria! They mean no harm but plenty of fun! haha.. after that, they offer you very nice and refreshing home made Sangria! Yum!!
The shaded area are for experts that analysis the bull fight...
You won't miss them as they are the one, sitting guai guai at their seat with clean clothings and dry hair!

Sangria stained shirt & wet hair with drunken look & 3 cups of Sangria.. what more can i say?

I love Spain! Next, we'll be at Valencia for the La Tomatina... will update you guys if we can get decent internet connection! :)

Ireland Trip Part II

Day II - Drogheda - Newgrange - Knowth - Belfast - Giant's Causeway

The alarm goes off at 8.15am on our second day in Ireland... "Oh bugger!" My fingers wonder around the fridge top for my phone and then switched the alarm off, and continue to sleep... or at least tries to sleep...

Both of us tried to be hero last night and thought that we'll be fine without pillow, but looks like pillows are crucial for a good night sleep... oh well... we learned our lesson...

doing my facial routine in the van...hehe

Our first breakfast is instant noodle! hahaha... what??! sedap dan cepat mar... ok.. we'll skip the boring part of eating & cleaning up and move on to our next journey which is to Newgrange & Knowth.

Newgrange & Knowth is actually tombsite.... before you call us 'siau' to fly over to Ireland to visit someone's tombsite.... Look at the pics below and tell me if it looks like your ordinary tombsite at any part of Malaysia that you can find...

visitor visiting the visitor centre

The tombsite we visit is special one ok.... It's round in shape and made by the stone age people thousand years ago....erm... quite a bad way to describe it ya...hehe.. Well, both Newgrange & Knowth is known as Megalithic Passage Tomb and are all surrounded by kerbstones... stones soo big, it's quite hard to imagine how normal human can carry it from other place to the top of the hill to built the tombs. Looking at the stones, I can't help but to imagine that all these stone age construction might be done by giants...who knows right? I mean, in the Bible, it talks about giants... so I'm sure giants do exist at that time...

the round round thing that looks like a mould is the tombs lor.. And the lady is our tour guide.

see... i told you the stone is huge! And it's all around the mould

more tombs

Dom & ju-on

Newgrange Passage tomb
people queing to see the passage and the chamber inside

Newgrange from afar

The passage tomb in Newgrange is built in such a way that the passage and the chamber are lighted up by the winter solstice sunrise. A shaft of sunlight shines through the roof box over the entrance and penetrates the passage to light up the chamber. The dramatic event lasts for 17 minutes at dawn on the Winter Solstice and for a few mornings either side of the Winter Solstice. cool right? The tour guide illustrate it by using a torchlight and it already looks magical... Surely the real things looks much much better!

the passage way to the chamber

Anyway, after spending few hours at the tombsite, facing strong hurricane-like wind, we drove to Belfast to get our much deserved pillows! =D Belfast is quite similiar to Dublin... If you want me to describe Ireland... I'll stay it's a combination of UK & Malaysia... some houses look like Malaysia house with UK sceneries. The road is like Penang or Kuching's road (lots of potholes & unevan!!! hehe), drivers are like KL drivers... rude & impatient! haha... but maybe that's just how city people drive... :p But Dom says he feels at home driving in KL style again.. haha..

the eye of Belfast?

Belfast

That night, we found an abondon harbour, called Ballingtoy Harbour, just slight off the Giant's causeway. The wind is hauling so strong and we can feel the van being blown by the wind... Again.. I didn't sleep well that night because I was so worried that the wind is going to blow the van into the Atlantic sea... I mean... seriously... the last thing that we need is to wake up the next morning in the middle of the sea! :s And with the wind draft, it makes the van feels like a freezer! I sleep with a long john, my jeans & sarong on.. with sleeping bag as blanket and yet... it's not enough to keep warm....

So.. that's the end of our 2nd day in Ireland... be patient as there's more... hopefully will have the time & a good internet connection to post those pics up for you guys.. :)

the way to Giant's Causeway

dinner for that night is steak with rice! hehe..

or is it rice.. plenty of rice with steak? o.O

sunset

Ireland trip Part 1

Just got back from Ireland yesterday and the campervan trip is awesome! :) Be patient and I will slowly update & post some pics as well about our 5 days 4 nights journey.

Day 1: Dublin - Drogheda
At 6.20am I have to drag my lazy bum and my sleepy head out of my comfy bed to jump into shower. It's not a pleasant shower cos it's just too cold and too early to shower.. :(
anyway, seeing that I have a train and a plane to catch, so I hurried up.

The train took us from Settle (a little town next to the village we stayed) straight to Manchester Airport and the journey took a good 2 1/2 hours.

Talking about the train, can you believe that we actually pay more for our train tickets than our flight tickets!!! Our return flight from Manchester to Dublin is only GBP35 for 2 of us whereas the return train ticket is GBP65!! cilaka!! expensive nya!!

Breakfast in Manchester Airport

At about 3.15pm, we finally arrived at Dublin airport. This is when the interesting part begin. We actually need to pick up the campervan by 4pm because that's when they close. As Dom dealt with the campervan company all these while, so he's in charge of getting in touch with them to arrange for pick up. First attempt, the screen shows number error. We thought that it might be the country code. 2nd attempt, it shows the same, so we decided to ask the reception at the tourist information counter. He said the country code is correct so we give it a try again. We kinda starts to panic at that moment as the clock is showing 3.30pm... great... looks like we'll be spending the first night in dublin airport! Then after numerous attempts, walking in and out of the arrival hall, we finally find out what when wrong... My dear friend saved the wrong number!!! And he said he already double check the number.... >_<

Dublin Airport

Aaanyway...... we finally get to see our van cum hotel cum kitchen. It's quite nice actually, with a small sink, 2 gas hob and 2 seating place that can be converted to a double bed. That's where we will be spending our next 5 days 4 nights in.

The back of the van: the seat cum bed & sink & gas hob

gas hob & the sink

So after picking up the campervan, we head to Dublin city for a quick stroll and did some food shooping.

one of the bridge that connect Iffey river

Street performers. Very talented! But the lady that looks like she's dancing is actually drunk! She later puke into the guitar case... ewww!!

One of the many bars in Temple Bar, the famous bar street in Dublin

Sorry about the look, a bit stoned here... Maklum lah... tak cukup tidur!

For the first night, we drove to a little town called Drogheda, about 45mins away from Dublin city. We stopped there as it's nearer to our first visit the next day. Our first night campsite is by the road side near some bushes with river at the back. It's kinda creepy for me, but he loved it as it's more quiet. Both of us are very different. I'm afraid of the dark, but to him, the darker the better, pitch dark is the best for him...

Cooking in that particular campervan is interesting! As it's a van, so we have to half stand half bend to do the cooking... and we've knocked our head countless time on the van ceiling... wonder if our head has gone slightly bigger! :s

professional chef cooking 3 course meals.. :p

Getting ready to sleep... without any pillows.. :(

That night, we only get to sleep at about 1.30am... :(
Did we have a good night sleep? read Part II , coming soon...

English celebration

Tonight, I join Rob & Becky (My landlord) for their celebration of a new born baby. It's a wonderful and informal celebration.

We drank a 20 year old champagne before we have our meal. Rob's mom make Lasagna and it's absolutely delicious..

English celebration is different from what we normally have in Chinese culture. Chinese culture, red eggs, Ka cha ma (for those in Kuching) and the poor mom in confinement for 1 month, cannot shower.. wah lao... kesian lor..

Ang mo ler... after give birth.. like nothing happen, continue to drink champagne, eat all the normal food.. no such thing as confinement, they are allowed.... encourage actually to shower to be clean..

It's nice to stay with an english couple... It's a great experience to learn about their culture :)




That's the bear that i bought for their baby and that's their new-born baby, Alex :)