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I decided to change the outlook of my blog... what do u think? Do you guys like it or prefer the old look? hehe...

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...

Whitby part 2

Whitby.... what can I say about Whitby? It's a very beautiful seaside town. The most spectacular I think... All these while, I thought San Diego in US is the most beautiful town I've ever visited, but Whitby just won my attention. Mind you, I'm not just talking about the sceneries... even the people there are unique too and a little quirky!

St Hilda's Abbey.

Interesting facts about St Hilda's Abbey:

It was founded in 657 AD by the Saxon King of Northumbria, Oswy (Oswiu) as Streanshalh (Streonshalh). The name Streoneshalh is thought to signify Fort Bay or Tower Bay in reference to a supposed Roman settlement or Roman Signal Station that previously existed on the site.

He appointed Lady Hilda, niece of Edwin, the first christian king of Northumbria, as Abbess. The double monastery of Benedictine monks and nuns was also home to the great Saxon poet Caedmon.

In 664, the abbey, built on the east cliff overlooking the Esk and town of Whitby, was the site of the Synod of Whitby, at which the Northumbrian Celtic church was reconciled to Rome.

In 867, the abbey fell to Viking attack, and was abandoned until 1078, when it was re-founded by Regenfrith (Reinferd) a soldier monk, under the orders of his protector, the Norman, William de Percy.

Looks like taken from some sad love songs video, minus the sexiness! :s

I have a feeling he's not that into being photographed.. :s

Whale's bone.
Dom: *knock knock* anyone home?

St Hilda's Abbey from afar

Captain Cook.. At first I thought it's Captain Hook from Peter Pan! :s

For some reason, some people there walk around in Gothic costume, at first we thought that they might be attending some school play or some fancy dress party, but wearing that as early as 8am in the morning to attend fancy dress party is just too odd. Then as we walked past the town, our question is answered. Apparently, Whitby is famous for a Dracula story written long long time ago by Bram Stoker.

Even the food sounds scary! "Death Beef Chilli & Rice"! :s

It says: GRAVE YARD: Tombs for rent. One Plot left.

Looks like the Adam's family.. Don't you think so?

Whitby part 1

With the staff car that this hotel provides now... it comes in handy.. in fact, very very handy.

Yesterday, we actually put up a night in the tiny, ugly green little Peugeot!! Of course the next morning we suffer quite teruk, due to lack of streching place in the car, I won't call it a good night sleep.. at all! But for the following beautiful sceneries... I'm glad we did this spontaneous drive up to Whitby from Liverpool in the middle of the night! :) Poor Dom.. he was walking around like zombie the whole day.

Sun rise from Whitby

Leftover pitta bread as breakfast Whitby St Hilda's Abbey

Ireland

Ireland trip is coming soon... not much prepared actually...
RIght, we've only got 5 days and 4 nights to cover the whole Ireland. then we only realised how crazy that will be! most people spend a month to cover the major interesting places of Ireland.. and here we are naively think that we can cover the whole island in 5 days time... haha... siau...

It will be alot of driving for poor Dom and because to save cost, we decided not to add in additional driver as it cost GBP6 per day for additional driver plus GBP48 per day for foreign driver... so forget about it...

Now we can only continue to do more research and if worst comes to worst, we'll just have to skip a few places..

We'll see..

birthmark

I finally have the guts to call to the clinic and made an appointment to possibly have the birthmark remove...
It's on the 12th May... we shall see... fingers crossed! :s

what's going on..

Right... sowey for not updating regularly! you all can smack me with a big fat trout...

we are still working unhappily in this hotel but kinda get used to the messy management... (close one eye lor..)

we will be going to Ireland for 5 days in a campervan.. too bad you can join us, Ling... by the way, how's Barcelona? We are planning to go in July after going to the Pamplona Bull Run. any cheap deals that you found?

2 days ago was my birthday, my sweet sister call me at 3.30am IN THE MORNING, to wish me 'Happy Birthday' just as I was dreaming of sinking my teeth into a piece of lovely cheesecake... Thanks Mousy! and after chatting with her for awhile, I can't sleep till around 6ish... well... good thing I'm not working on that morning..

We went shopping at Liverpool One (Deepak, you should go there if you are planning to shop for Liverpool football club thingy...er... u ARE Liverpool fan right?)
Anyway... I saw this lovely wedding dress for only GBP225...so tempted to buy.... but... got dilemma a bit lar...
you see... I got an ugly birthmark on my left shoulder...and the dress is a halterneck.. :(
I don't want to look ugly on my wedding day... suddenly have the urge to do laser treatment on that birthmark... He keeps on saying that it's not a big deal... sigh.... headache..
Then... he raise more concern saying that the dress might be too simple as a wedding dress.. he's worried that our guests might dress more glamorous than me... hahaha... lagi headache..

apa macam? nice o not har the dress?