Back home

Well, that's it I guess. In 146 days, I hit 21 countries and 34 airports, took 4621 pictures and 267 videos (spanning 7 GB and 4 SD cards), and had an unmeasurable amount of valuable lessons
in life. I travelled for many reasons, and I will keep doing it as long as I live and have the means to do it. There is so much I want to say, so many stories I want to tell, but they will have to wait for a better time and place than this humble blog.

Cardiff, Wales

Now, I'll be honest, I visited Cardiff pretty much because of Dr. Who and Torchwood - shows which I rather like. Naturally, my first stop was the Dr. Who exhibit at the Red Dragon Center. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Cardiff itself was also quite a nice place. Met some nice people and did other things not related to Dr. Who, such as seeing a circus. Part of me wanted to party like crazy for my last night abroad, but I felt I should not force it as I was quite battered from all the moving around and the sudden shifts in weather. Figured I was still young enough to save it for later :).

Galway, Ireland

I suppose it is kind of a misleading thing to title this entry Galway, as I spent more of my time outside of it. Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, and the Aran Islands were really where I spent most of my time. Some amazing scenery. The Aran Islands are the one place in Ireland where Gaelic is still spoken natively by the population as the 1st language. It's funny how there are signs everywhere in Ireland in Gaelic, but I haven't heard anyone speaking it. Didn't get much of a chance to enjoy the fabled Irish music/drinking scene as I still have this annoying cold from Scotland. Anyways, off to Cardiff (Wales) after this.. and that will be my last stop :(.

Cork, Ireland

I originally travelled to Cork for 2 reasons. 1) To hear the famous Cork accent; and 2) because Galway's hostels were all booked for Friday night. I ended up not being so impressed by the accent (i.e. I could understand it, which meant it wasn't as thick as they said), and discovered that there are other cool things around Ireland's 2nd largest city - namely the towns of Limerick, and Blarney! They actually have a castle and village named Blarney - and who thought of the name? The QUEEN (of England, Elizabeth I). I kissed the stone, but sadly don't feel any more articulate.

Dublin, Ireland

I'm sad to say that I didn't really spend much time here, really just as a transit point to the rest of Ireland. I heard from the many Irish people I had met that it wasn't really worth it. Perhaps they were selling it short, perhaps not. 2 nights (and 0 days!) can't answer that. While here I was fortunate to stumble across culture night and I got to see some galleries and the ORIGINAL Trinity College (ok, one of them.. Cambridge's 50 years older) open far past their normal hours. I also met Somadrone and had a quick chat with them after their performance at the National Gallery (weird but fitting venue).

Edinburgh, Scotland

I ate haggis every single day in Scotland and it was good. Deep fried Mars bars are great! I really need to hit the gym after 6 weeks in Europe, especially with such delicacies. Now Edinburgh is a great old cultural city with a huge history of sanitation problems. The town was decimated by plague and they used to throw sewage on the streets nightly at 10pm, co-incidentally (or not) the same time pubs closed. Fortunately these problems are long gone and it is a very very nice city with friendly people (unlike Glasgow from what I hear). Had a chance to explore the highlands a bit and even rent a bike for a little expedition to the oldest pub in Scotland! It was nice meeting up with Victoria whom I went to high school with. How random is that! Oh and before I forget.. that castle below, it's from Monty Python and the Holy Grail; "I faaaaart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!" Yes, that one.