James' Whirlwind Tour of UK - Part 3: Ireland

Belfast - Giants Causeway - Galway - Dublin

Aye there, now where's my Guinness! (ok, so maybe that's not how they say hi in Irish...)


TOUR OF UK MORE LIKE A UK PUB CRAWL

Well, it's been quite an exhausting but fun month around the UK and Ireland, considering that I’ve been going out almost every night partying it up in the clubs - since most cities in the UK and Ireland have really good nightlife. (Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Galway, Dublin).

Maybe I can stop partying in my next destinations; Bristol - nup, party town... then London, nup again, more partying there!

Looks like no break from this partyboy lifestyle till I get home, where I really do need to detox and abstain from drinking for a while (yeah right!)


SEEKING THE HOLY GRAIL AT ROSSLYN CHAPEL

Forgot to mention doing a day trip out to Rosslyn from Edinburgh, to seek out the famous Rosslyn chapel mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code" book and touted by many historians to be the residing place of the Holy Grail. It's quite an amazing place alone, although small it's interior and exterior sculptures and carvings are quite odd and eccentric, no wonder one would think there is something suspicious going on there. Take for instance, the carving of native American plants inside, made before America was even discovered! Or the strange pagan symbols and astronomical stars carved on the ceiling! Freaky!

No grail found though. Just a guy asking for 6 pounds for entry!


IRELAND - AN EXPENSIVE VERSION OF WALES

I like Ireland. It reminds me alot like Wales with the wild hills and sheep and rugged coastline of steep cliffs, the houses especially near the coast, and the friendliness of the inhabitants. The girls are quite stunning too, and just like in the UK, they sure love braving the elements in their short skirts and big boats and big fur hooded jackets which makes you wonder if they've forgotten to put on a pair of winter trousers to complete the ensemble. Not that I’m complaining mind you. Anyway, as with most nations with stunning girls, I can't understand a word they are saying, even though it's English! Their accent is truly unintelligible, all I can do when they talk to me is smile, say "uh huh" and nod at the end of each sentence, and when they ask me an incomprehensible question, quickly down my pint of Guinness and say I need to get another drink. Then run away.

Guinness is great here, I actually didn't like it when I first tried it in England (mainly because it is brewed in England there). But the Guinness here is quite smooth, and you can taste the burnt malt in the brew. You beauty!


BELFAST
Belfast is much like every other city in Ireland (and the UK), same old modern cobbled shopping pedestrian malls as city center configuration, with waterfront and a few grand buildings like the town hall. Shopping center by day, party town at night, one could easily forget what the place is like. Belfast however does have a bloody history that makes it stand out and worth visiting, being one of the battlegrounds of the Troubles that plagued Ireland for the last 50 or
so years.

Belfast also has the prettiest girls in all of Ireland.

Visited the Europa hotel, which is the most blown up hotel in the world by IRA terrorist bombings. Makes you wonder why people would want to keep checking into the place with that call to fame. Adrenalin junkies perhaps. Thrill seeking businessmen adrenalin junkies more like it - the place is big and expensive.

Also noted the Northern bank of Ireland that recently was infamously robbed in broad daylight by some guys who made two trips to take 20million from the vaults straight to their van parked outside – and no one knew it was happening till after they left!


THE TROUBLE THAT WAS THE TROUBLES
From what I’ve gathered, basically the situation of Northern Ireland (AKA Ulster), is this - a civil war against the Protestant British loving Royalist Loyalists, (their militants are the UVF – Ulster Volunteer Force) and the Catholic Independence from British Separatist Republicans (their parliament being Sein Finn, their army the IRA - Irish Republican Army) who want Northern Ireland as part of Ireland.
See, travelling truly is an educational experience!

I've been told the situation is similar to the Israeli-Palestine issue, except instead of Jews occupying Palestinian land, it is Protestants occupying Catholic land (which occurred after Britain occupied Ireland a long while ago). In fact, you would see the star of David painted on the UVF flag, and apparently there is support from the Jewish settlers for UVF and Palestinians for IRA (also evident in the wall murals painted - more on that later). And even though it's peace time etc, there are some places I've been told to avoid at night.

Did a tour of the Trouble related sights, which took us to the Falls and Shambles areas, the front battleline of the two sides. Between the two areas is a huge wall, similar to the walls used in the Berlin wall and Israel/Palestine. On the main roads of each area near the wall you would pass famous colourful artistic murals, each depicting a political point of view supporting their cause.

Popped into the Sein Finn office where they kindly allowed me to pick up a copy of their last year's manifesto from their dumpster out the back. Hmmm...


GIANTS CAUSEWAY - THE EIGHT NATURAL WONDER OF THE WORLD OR SOME
IMPRACTICAL GIRL WOOING DEVICE?
Went up to see Giants Causeway, which is an amazing coastline of black basalt hexagonical cylindrical pillars of various heights, which stretches for miles. Apparently caused by some freak volcanic activity and slow lava cooling. The mythical reason being that it was created by a giant called Finn McCool who built it so he could cross to Scotland to see his lover. Couldn't he just build himself a boat?


JAMES LEE, CERTIFIED IRISH WHISKY TESTER
Anyway, this was followed by a visit to the Bushwells Whisky distillery, currently the oldest original Whisky distillery in the world. The tour was a standard tour showing how whisky is made etc. But when they asked for four volunteers I was the fastest person with my hand up. Because it involved me and three other people testing 3
shots of whisky and comparing it with a shot of bourbon and a shot of scotch. All in the space of less than 5 minutes. Hic!

Differences? Scotch Whisky is smokier flavoured (and my preferred spirit), Bourbon is floral/perfumed flavoured, and Irish Whisky generally as a bit of bite followed by smooth aftertaste (favourite being 10yo single malt, ends with a chocolately aftertaste.)

Afterwards I was given a certificate calling me a certified Irish Whisky Tester! Woo Hoo!


VIBRANT GALWAY
Finally made it to Galway in the Irish Republic after a 6hr bus ride and three bus changes. Hardcore traveller me! Anyway, Galway is a very small but lovely cultural university town, full of vibrancy and life, crowds constantly on the streets shopping, having a pint or eating, while buskers play loudly within earshot of one another so it sounds like a badly conducted orchestra. Was disappointed with the famous nightlife though, which is one of the reasons I went there, mainly because everyone else was there also looking to have a good time. The pubs were so crowded I had no desire standing squashed on all sides in the smoky haze, but eventually found a quieter place to chill and chat.

Ireland in this part of the country is quite homogenous, so I do get alot of stares and attention, some of it bordering on racism if I didn't know better. But the people are still good humoured and lively.


THE WEST COAST CLIFFS OF MOHER
Day tripped to the Cliffs of Moher, stopping via the famed Dolmen which is an ancient tomb of one slab on top of two vertical slabs much like a doorway or what you see in Stonehenge. The cliffs were quite dramatic but hazy. Nearly fell off it actually when this Mexican girl wanted to take my photo and told me to move to my right closer to the cliff edge, to which I tripped myself doing but luckily steadied myself in time! Phew!

PARTYTOWN DUBLIN - HOME OF THE GUINNESS
5 bars visited, 7 pints of Guinness drunk, many random friendly locals met, 1 cute German girl kissed, partying it up till 4am - all on a Monday night. What does this mean? Dublin has awesome nightlife!

Dublin is very cosmopolitan, where a huge number of Asians (as well as other ethnic minorities) coexist happily with the Irish. To see Asians working in an Irish pub behind the bar shows how well integrated they are with society. The French can learn from this.

Did a tour of the Guinness brewery, where I got to do a taste test, and got a free pint in their skytop bar overlooking the city below. Then went shopping and wandering the many pedestrian malls full of life, crossing the numerous bridges over the river, and failing to find anywhere cheap to eat (as Dublin is expensive).

Anyway, tomorrow I fly to Bristol, then a trip to Oxford followed by London, before my voyage back home to Melbourne! *sob, sniff sniff* my two year roaming Europe and Middle East is almost over! Any regrets?
None whatsoever!!