Dublin City Sightseeing Tour

Destination: Dublin City, Ireland.
Date: 29 October 2009 (Thursday)

As promised in my previous post, now is the time for me to share about Dublin City sightseeing tour!

Early in the morning I made some breakfast and brought some in our backpack for lunch. Just some simple sandwiches which the ingredients were bought from the Tesco Express nearby.  While I was preparing the breakfast, hubby bought the Dublin City sightseeing tour ticket online at City Sightseeing. We got 10% discount to buy the tickets online!

Around 9.00a.m. we were already got onto the hop on hop off bus.The first bus or the start point was at 14 Upper O'Connell Street, outside Dublin Tourism Office. As it was just in front of our hotel building, we could just walked there slowly.

Statue of James Larkin, the labour leader at the O'Connell Street, Dublin.

O'Connell Bridge at Liffey River, Dublin City.

Grafton Street.

On the right of the Grafton Street, there is the Molly Malone statue. Molly Malone is a tale of a beautiful fishmonger, who was a part-time hussy also.

 

Molly Malone statue.

As you can see in the above picture, the windows are getting smaller on the top. According to our bus tour guide, it is because they wanted to make the building looks higher and the second reason is to reduce the window tax.

Cycle track signboard in Ireland.

Most of the signboard in Ireland were translated into two languages, English and Gaeilge.

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

Above picture is the Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. Here is where the Anglo-Norman adventurer who conquered Dublin and married Aoife, daughter of the King of Leinster, was buried.

In Dublin, you can always rent a bicycle, but I am not very sure about the price rate.

Later on we hopped off the bus and walked to Saint Stephen's Green, one of the oldest public parks in Ireland. We wished to capture some autumn pictures in Dublin. Below are some of the pictures taken.

Hubby and I at Saint Stephen's Green Park, Dublin, Ireland.

Resting at the park while enjoying the golden view of the park in autumn.

Above picture is the state drawing room, which was the principal reception room inside the Dublin Castle. Dublin Castle only provides guided tour and students get cheaper price by showing the student ID card! It is so interesting to know the history of Dublin Castle. I won't tell, you should visit yourself! He... he... :)

Powder Tower at Dublin Castle.

Guinness Storehouse.

We visited the Guinness Storehouse at St. James's Gate, Dublin as it is Ireland’s number one international visitors attraction. The entrance fee was quite expensive for us even though we got some discount from the Dublin City sightseeing tickets. For more information about Guinness Storehouse, visit this website.

The Guinness brewery was founded in 1759 by Arthur Guinness. In 1759 Arthur signed a 9000 year lease for a site at St. James's Gate with access to the city watercourse. Can you count when will the lease end? :)

Inside the storehouse there is a tasting lab, where visitors can sample the finished product but as we are Muslims we couldn't taste it. We visited this place just to gain some knowledge. Besides learning the process of producing Guinness, visitors can also watch visuals about the making of barrels, the tradisional made of wooden staves enclosed by metal hoops.

On top ot the storehouse, there is the Gravity Bar, that have the unique 360° view of Dublin City and beyond. Here all visitors can enjoy a complimentary pint of Guiness. Again it was not for us as we are Muslims, so we just had two glasses of Coke! :)

Some of Irish souvenirs at Carrolls.

We found that Carrolls Irish Gift Shop is the best place to buy Irish souvenirs. Most of the souvenirs are cheaper than other places! In fact there are few Carrolls Irish Gift Shops in Dublin. For more information, visit their website.

Ireland is very famous with the step dance or people just call it Irish dancing. There are few places where you can watch the Irish dancing but you have to pay for the show. As for me and my hubby, our budget was quite tight, so we went to Arlington Hotel and watched free Irish dancing show. We only paid for the drinks and able to watch live Irish dancing show for about 30 minutes. If you want to enjoy a night of unforgettable Irish hospitality and food while watching the traditional entertainment, you may book the three course menu dinner at €29.95 per person.

Arlington Hotel.

As we came early to Arlinghon Hotel, we enjoyed listening to the above live band, while waiting for the Irish dancing show to start, located at lower ground of this hotel.

 

Irish dancing show at Arlington Hotel.

I really enjoyed watching the Irish dancing and listening to their traditional music. It made me felt like being in a fairy world :)

Once the show was over, hubby and I walked to the Temple Bar area. It was a quite happening night there as there were many street shows. Some more that night was Halloween, so many people were dressing in different costumes.

Part of the Temple Bar area.

Below are some of the street shows at the Temple Bar area.

 

Spire or Spike at O'connell Street, Dublin.

Before went back to our room at the Lynam's Hotel, we took some pictures at the Spire which is 120m tall, making it the tallest structure in Dublin City centre. Locally known as Spike, located at O'Connell Street, Dublin, which is also in front of our hotel. To know more about our hotel, please read the previous post! :)

We saw a machine which people can buy stamps, 24 hours a day! What a very convenience way to buy stamps. Hopefully Malaysia will have one like this :)

The whole day was a great tour but we felt that it was not enough time to visit the whole Dublin City in a day. Some more in autumn it gets dark early which is around 5.30p.m.

In my next post, I will share about our experiences during the Wicklow Tour! :)

Journey from Manchester, England to Dublin, Ireland.

Destination: Dublin, Ireland.
Date: 28 October2009 (Wednesday)

Dublin was our first Europe tour mission, since we moved to Manchester, England. In less than two weeks we managed to book the transportation to Dublin from Manchester as well as the lodging in Dublin City, Ireland for 4 days and 3 nights from 28 October 2009.

Our journey began by taking the train at Piccadilly, Manchester. Hubby bought the return tickets online from Virgin Train and cost us £132.00, which included train and ferry tickets. Actually we missed our 9.45a.m. train but luckily we were allowed to take the next train at 11.00a.m. That was our first lesson to know that public transportation in United Kingdom move sharp on time. If your train ticket printed the departure time at 9.45a.m., it means that you must be on the train about 10 minutes before it departs.

Half way through, we had to change the train at Chester Station. We had about 1 hour in Chester before we could ride the next train to Port of Holyhead, Wales, England. So in Chester, we just walked around and took some pictures.

Around 3.30p.m. we arrived at the Port of Holyhead. The check-in time for the Irish Ferries was at 4.15p.m. So again, we had few minutes to take some photos.

Port of Holyhead

From this modern bridge at the port, we could see lots of seagulls and that was our first time listening to seagulls' sound live.

Irish Ferries.

Once checked-in through the immigration officer at the port, the Irish shuttle bus picked us to the ferry. Onboard you can buy food, drinks, play games, watch television and even shopping, but the souvenirs onboard are expensive. It is better to buy souvenirs at Dublin City. We were onboard for about 2 hours and felt so boring. So we just slept all they way to Dublin Port.

Once we reached Dublin Port, the Irish shuttle bus picked us to the port. We both were busy taking pictures and when a bus came to drop some passengers at the port, we were told by the bus driver that it was the last trip and the bus service was end for that day. Luckily the bus driver was very kind to willing to fetch us until the next bus stop for free, where we could take another bus to go to Dublin City. Once we managed to catch the next bus, suddenly we were told that the bus only accept exact amount of money. We did not have small change and since that area did not have any shop nearby, the bus driver was willing to let us ride the bus for free until the next stop where there were few shops which we could get some small change. Nice bus drivers in Dublin! May God bless them. Then we went to a shop and bought Kebab to get some small change. Later on, we managed to take the next bus to Dublin City and walked to Lynam's Hotel at the O’Connell Street. At first we were lost in finding the hotel's location but at last we found it. Right in the middle of Dublin City.

We both were quite tired after the whole journey. Anyhow, we felt relief to see our room was just nice. It cost us about £130.00 for 3 nights without breakfast. Hubby booked this hotel online at Budget Places. Do not forget to find the promotion code at their blog before proceed with the booking payment online, so that you could get some discount! :) That time the promotion code was "twitter". Below are some pictures of our room.

Lynam's Hotel, just beside McDonald.

Private bathroom with bathub.

Towels were provided and being changed daily.

A comfortable double bed and television.

Coffee and tea making facilities were also provided.

Not to forget the room was also provided with a safety deposit box and free wifi. So we managed to stay in touched with friends and family using the internet as we brought along our laptop.

We were very much satisfied with this hotel and would recommend to anyone who wants to have a good and easy time in Dublin as it is also situated at a very strategic place. Right in the middle of the city center, Spar and McDonald are just beside the hotel. Beside that, Tesco Express is just about 5 minutes walk. The tourist information center is on the opposite building and you can easily get a taxi right in front of the hotel. Moreover, if you want to take the city sightseeing tour, the buses starting point is just at the opposite road. Furthermore, you can just walk to go to few places like Temple Bar, Grafton Street, Trinity College, Grafton Street, St. Stephen’s Green and many more.

Keep on reading my next post or just subscribe it to get some information about our experiences enjoying the Dublin City sightseeing tour and Wicklow Mountain tour! Plus, I will tell you where to watch free Irish dancing show and also the cheapest shop to buy Irish souvenirs! ;)

Oldham Car Boot Sales in Autum 2009

Destination: Oldham, England.

Towards end of autumn the car boot sales were getting lesser. By the time we arrived at this Oldham car boot sales, some of the seller were closing up their boots already. So it is best to come early in the morning, as it is usually close at 12.00pm. Anyhow the car park was free.

According to a friend, usually this car boot sales is being held on the field and even more bigger than this one.

My husband I were looking forward to buy a wall clock. We managed to buy one at £1.00. Here you can bargain but just be nice! :) Oh! you better bring along un umbrella or a rain coat because it always rain in United Kingdom. Moreover be expected that the sales items sometimes are wet because of the rain.

Visiting Manchester City Stadium

Destination: Sportcity, Manchester, England.

Sportcity was developed for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the City of Manchester Stadium is now home to Manchester City Football Club. Now it is owned 100% by His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Manchester City Stadium

The above photo was taken from the opposite side of the stadium, which was from the Asda Wal Mart Supercentre.

CityStore at Manchester City Stadium

Opening Hours:
Monday to Saturday: 9.00am - 5.30pm
Sunday: 11.00am - 5.00pm
Matchdays: Store is open after matches

or else, there is another CityStore at The Arndale Centre.

Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday: 10.00am - 8.00pm
Saturday: 10.00am - 7.00pm
Sundays: 11.00am - 5.00pm

Some of the souvenirs sell in the store

There is also Stadium Tour available 7 days a week. Check the prices on it's official website and for student it is always at a discounted price. So don't forget to bring your student card. Poor me, if I were to go for the tour, I have to pay the normal adult price but my husband get cheaper price as he is a postgraduate student. However it is, my husband has to pay for me. Ha ha ha :)

Manchester City FC
City of Manchester Stadium
SportCity
Manchester M11 3FF

For more information visit: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

Enjoy seafood at Wonderland Food Store in Langkawi

Destination: Langkawi Island, Kedah, Malaysia.

This is not our first time visiting Langkawi Island, but what made this trip special is that I had a chance to eat my favorite Dried Chili Squid! I've been waiting about 3 years to come back to this island, place where I grew up, just to eat this delicious squid! My parents used to bring me having dinner here and this time my lovely hubby bring me here.

Dried Chilies Squid

Steam Grouper

Kangkung Belacan

Soft Crab

We had all these for about RM60.00! :)

Wonderful Fireflies

Destination: Kuala Selangor, Selangor, Malaysia

It has been so long that I haven't update anything about my travels.

During last labour day, 1 May 2009, my family and I went to see the beautiful of fireflies at Kelip-kelip Kampung Kuantan in Kuala Selangor, Selangor, Malaysia.

The fireflies are not flies, they are actually tiny beetles which are about 6mm. If the weather is good you'll be lucky to see them glowing at night. During our trip, we could see them glowing along the river and they looked like the flashing Christmas tree! Sorry that I don't have any picture of these amazing fireflies, as flash is not allow to be used as it will scare them away.

My tips here, if you are planning to go there during any public holiday, you'd better buy your ticket earlier as it is usually going to be a very long line. Some more once you managed to buy your ticket, then you will need to line up to get into the boat. I don't know if nowadays they change the way they manage it. It is also good if you go there in a group of four people so that you could be in the same boat. The price, well I can't remember but I guess it is around RM10.00 per person.

Line up to buy ticket and to ride the boat.