Day 6 - City Centre 2nd Visit

Aimai sansenchi!

Despite having heard that alarm tone 5 times already, I always jump from my sleep whenever this plays. The volume was only set to 4 bars, but I think even my neighbours could hear it.

Well, I didn't really mind since it was supposed to wake me up at 8am. I got up, brushed my teeth, took a bath, ate breakfast (It was the first time all 3 of us were up at the same time in the morning. Yuan Shi was going to meet his friends and Nattenaya had an English assessment test, so they both got up early today.), packed my stuff and was on my way to the bus stop by 9.30am.

My reason for going to the bus stop in the wee hours of the morning (People here usually get up at 9am and only start moving around at 10+) is because the seniors offered to show some of us around Dublin 1 (aka. City Centre) again. However, this time, the trip was aimed to give us some knowledge of the places in and around the City Centre.

Unfortunately, I wasn't informed (again) that the time had changed to 10.30am. Apparently, the seniors decided at 11pm last night that 9.30am was too early and only informed those who called them to reconfirm. And so, about 20+ idiots were standing there enduring the cold morning breeze for 1 hour. TO BE CLEAR, I WAS NOT ONE OF THEM. I went into the UCD Business Centre (no wind+heater+clear view of bus stop) after 15 minutes of waiting.

Finally, at 10.30am, a few seniors arrived, some of them yawning and stretching along the way (DAMN YOU!). Once AJ (president of PMCSA) and the last of the 1st years arrived, we marched off to the 46A bus stop and caught a bus to the City Centre. And it was the first time I used my Rambler card.

Here's a brief explanation of the Rambler card. It is a card that allows you unlimited rides on the Dublin Bus from the time you use the card until 12.00am (the next day). Depending on the card you purchase, the card may be valid for 3 days or 30 days (I think there are others, but these are the 2 I know of). However, the 30 days need not be continuous. It can be used on any 30 days before the expiry date (which is usually January next year). For students, the 30-day card costs 75 euros, which means 2.50 euros per day. Since it costs 1.80 euros without the card to get to City Centre from UCD, I'd say it is very worth it. After all, it costs another 1.80 euros to return to UCD.

Our first stop was Grafton St. near a park. I've forgotten the name of the park though, but we did take some pics there.





























Moving on, we went to visit the various Asian markets like uhh...well... Asian Market and Oriental Emporium. There, I finally found thick soy sauce and corn starch! I also bought some Asian veggies and tofu.

We also visited some other shops. Our seniors also introduced some places of interests as well as Malaysian and Chinese restaurants should we ever miss home food. I know I won't, but others might. Either way, the prices were insane. 8 euros for a Char Hor Fun! That's WAY worse than the menu TBY showed me from Australia.

We were also brought to Temple Bar. Some of you might know the importance of this legendary bar, and some of you might not. I was one of the who didn't, until I saw the shop. Yes, it is THE birthplace of the famous Guinness Stout. You alcohol fans out there probably worship that place, but to me, it's just a bar (and an overpriced one at that!). I just snapped 1 pic and got the heck outta there.















At 2pm, the non-Muslims were already hungry. So, the Muslims (and some nons) left the group while the rest of us and most of the seniors went to have lunch. We picked a popular Malaysian restaurant as our dining spot. As I have said before, the prices are unbelievably (and I bet unreasonably) high! A set lunch with Fried Wan Tan and rice with Cha Shao meat cost me 9.99 euros. I died, but didn't say a thing since the seniors weren't complaining.

During lunch, I also learned that AJ has a similar educational background. He is also an express class student thanks to the PTS exam and also took a 1 year A-level equivalent programme. Owing to that, he was the youngest of his group when he arrived in Dublin at the age of 17 (his birthday is in December). Because of that, he got his Garda card for free! (DAMN!@#$&% I missed by a few days!) Despite that, he is the head of the largest national student association in UCD. Unbelievable!

It is a good thing the others do not know. If information leaked out that he was almost the same age as most of the 1st years (MARA and JPA scholars are all 20 years old, and AJ isn't officially 21 until December), he might start getting bullied by his juniors too. I can divulge information here because none of my university mates visit this blog, I hope.

We were then dismissed and I returned to UCD at 4pm. After dropping off my things, I decided to return to the City Centre to explore for myself. Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances, I only left the house at 5.30pm. Hence, I only got to walk a few rounds around O'Connell Street and Grafton Street. I did return to the Temple Bar to TRY to feel its holy greatness, but I guess that won't happen unless I get myself a pint. The idea is veery tempting, but I think I'll pass on that until later, if not never.

I was hoping to visit Phoenix Park (another popular park in Dublin), but seeing as it was getting late and I wasn't sure how long it would take to get to the park from the City Centre, I returned home. Before that, I bought a cup of hot chocolate from Butler's Chocolate House, but just like AJ said, it was good but nothing to really scream about or continuously go back for like the girls do.

I bumped into Yuan Shi just before entering the house. He was planning to cook tonight, but firstly, I ate a late lunch and secondly, I had been walking around O'Connell St. sampling some local delights (only a few, but portions are big here), so I passed. However, in the end, he cooked too much and Nattenaya cooked as well, so I joined in their feast and had a taste. Nattenaya's spaghetti bolognese was good, but after tasting Yuan Shi's food, I am now discouraged from cooking again. He claimed that it was his third time cooking and he (as his friends did before) claimed that it wasn't at all as good as back in China, but to me, that meat and potatoes he made can almost rival those regular Chinese restaurants back in Penang! Please remember that it's his third time cooking (without an actual recipe book).

Sigh........... Guess I'll cook tomorrow and see what the both of them think. There's also laundry and trash disposal to take care of tomorrow. Well, TGIS (thanks goodness it's Sunday)! -Background: LAME!!!!-