What is Your Favorite City to Live?

I have been pretty nomadic since I was 11, and I have been moving from one place to another in search of my dream (it keeps changing, by the way). And no, I don't move because my family had to move somewhere. I basically moved out of house by sheer luck (and perhaps destiny, if you believe in one).

So if I create a map, this is the extent of my mobility (and I am 25 years old when I wrote this):

I'm pretty sure that you must have read or heard so many people saying "you must travel lots when you are in your 20's". Well, I guess my case is a rather extreme one. So when I feel like I need to spend some of my weekends lazing around my apartment, I have a reasonably valid excuse :P

To people who have never lived outside their own country, or even their own hometown, I get a lot of "Which country/city do you like the best?"

The answer is always difficult because there are pros and cons to each place. And while some places are great for tourism, it's not a great place to live. For this, I will have to nominate Paris. I don't want to say anything further about Paris, but living there for 2 months certainly destroyed my fantasy about "a romantic city".

Living in the US can be rather boring if you are interested into experiencing cultural events because pretty much people are interested in shopping, getting the latest gadget, eating at famous restaurants, etc. Unlike in Europe, Christmas season means big sales, not drinking mulled wines and enjoying little Christmas treats. And living without a car can be pretty painful in the US, since the public transport is pretty bad. Well, it probably differs from cities to cities, or from states to states. The US is a very convenient place to live, with stores open till late every day and online shopping made very easy. The best part of it? Almost in every corner of the US, everyone speaks English and at this point, I am more confident speaking English than my native language, Indonesian.

(image source: dailymail.co.uk)

Cork in Ireland can be rather dull and gloomy. And rainy just like the UK. But what I love from Ireland is the Irish hospitality. I felt so welcome by the locals, and I perceive their kindness as saintly. I remember getting lost in the city as a newcomer, and someone on the road just stopped her car just to ask if my friends and I were lost. They speak English, too, but their accents are a little bit hard to pick up. It took me about 3 weeks to adjust my ears.

In Kinsale, a neighboring town to Cork

Lund in Sweden is a cozy place, although it's pretty much filled in with aged residents in the summer, since the university students would be leaving for home. Things are rather slow-paced, and it is blessed with great nature. I was there during summer and I enjoyed it. Not sure if I'd become a snowball in winter, though. One thing I don't really like about Sweden is that the food is rather bland. With exception of the Swedish meatballs served with real lingon berry - not cranberry - jam. I know that in most IKEAs around the world, lingon berry is not available, so you've been eating the IKEA meatball with cranberry jam instead. The difference between lingon berry and cranberry is probably rather minimal and if you don't even know how lingon berry tastes like, cranberry jam is good enough.

Summer in Sweden

I lived in two cities (well, I would consider the other one a village, but it is officially a city based on legal laws) when I was in the Netherlands. To be honest, Rotterdam has been the most enjoyable city I have lived so far. It was a lively city, not too crowded, convenient, excellent public transport... and almost everyone speaks good English. The weather is considerably mild, and there is almost everything you need. True, it is rather modern and some people may take modern city as boring, but it is very close to good touristic places. And oh, the open market is absolutely awesome. Everything is fresh, the prices are lower than the supermarket, and there are good selections of items, ranging from fresh produce to gorgeous flowers.

The iconic symbol of the Netherlands: windmills

If there are unique things I like about the Netherlands, those are: 1) a lot of people speak good English considering English is not their first language, 2) finding Indonesian (and other Asian food) is rather easy, and 3) it is very international. The hardest thing to get adjusted to was the Dutch directness, which can be perceived as rudeness if you are not aware that they do not have evil intention when they openly criticize something about you. But in the end, I kind of like it. It's better than holding in things and cursing people behind their backs, not giving them any chance to improve.

Singapore, on the other hand, has gone quite tremendous changes over the years and sometimes when I went back there for holidays or to visit my friends, I felt that it was oddly foreign. There are more and more foreigners, and wherever I go, I always meet an Indonesian on the street. It's weird. Singapore is rich with many forms of entertainment, but it can be a very stressful place to live. I remember when I was in high school, someone from the top 3 school across the nation committed suicide because she got one B in her midterm exams. The "B is a failure" mentality can be rather suffocating, but I don't think Singapore can be released from this culture any time soon. But hey, there are lots of good food in Singapore, like Hainanese chicken rice, laksa, and roti prata.

(image source: forbes.com)

Now, the reason why I started this post was because I just moved to Switzerland almost two months ago, and by far, this move was the hardest for me. Contrary to the "I don't care if you see everything inside my house, I'm gonna open all the curtains in my house" mentality of the Dutch, the residents of Switzerland love to close their windows not just with curtains, but with metal blinds. After working hours (let's say 5-6 PM), all windows are shut.

Enjoying Alpen horns in St Cergue, close to Geneva

You can say it is peaceful, but it is too quiet for me. It's kind of like Wageningen in the Netherlands. But I think I will get used to it soon by picking up hobbies and exploring places. The best thing about living in Switzerland is probably the abundance of good cheese and white wines, the reliability of the public transportation system, and the fact that you are forbidden to work on Sundays (yippie!!).

As for my hometown, Jakarta... I think I see more cons than pros, and if my family is not there, I would not pick it as a place to live. The traffic jam is insane. At one time during my vacation back home, it took us at least 30 minutes to go to the supermarket, which is probably less than 5 km away from our house. My mobility is extremely restricted, and I really hate that. Walking on the streets alone as a girl, even in a broad daylight, can be very dangerous. In the malls, in a restaurant, on the streets, in front of your house, in your car... let's not even talk about in public transport. When I go back, the only things I appreciate are my family, my house, and the food.

Can you imagine that you have a sudden heart attack in the middle of the road and the ambulance can't even pass through? Or you are in labour and you are going to give birth in the next few minutes, when the traffic is like this every day? I mean, let's cross our fingers that we don't have to be in such situations, but if any of these emergencies were to happen... Ugh!

(image source: says.com)

Oh, and finally, Tokyo! I went there in spring for 3 months, and it was awesome. Things are pricey, and people there are rather reserved. Stand out a little bit, and everyone will be staring at you. The morning trains make me understand how it feels to be a sardine in a can. But overall, it is a very convenient city with lots of entertainment (especially the karaoke boxes and game arcades!). Tokyo is rather unique, with very modern buildings blended with natural landscapes. The old and the new are standing side-by-side. Vending machines are everywhere, and 100 yen shops are dens of evil sucking money out of you without realizing it (the items are worth their values, though). People are still shy about speaking English, but the young ones are quite willing to speak English. And there are more and more signs in roman letters, so navigating through the city is rather easy.

In a traditional Japanese inn (ryokan)

What is your favorite place to live?

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What I learned about the Netherlands, Ireland, France and Sweden

Officially, the end of my first year of European Master in Food Studies was over. With tears and hugs, byes and kisses, sweet and sour memories. Friendships developed - sometimes temporarily broken for reasons I could never comprehend - and memories woven. It was almost always lively around me, and I felt that I had a new family in Europe.

Now, let's put aside the emotional moments (because I'll start crying, alone in Rotterdam) and talk about things that I learned from staying in different countries throughout this one year. Just as an overview, our masters program involved being enrolled in four different universities in four different European countries, with students from all over the continents. In my edition, we have people from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Romania, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Hongkong/UK (dual citizenship), India, Ghana, Guatemala, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia.

You may agree or disagree with some points that I mentioned, but keep in mind that whatever is written here is merely of my perspectives, and I don't mean any harm when I write this.

Well, let's start with the Netherlands :)

1st stop: Wageningen University, The Netherlands
- The Dutch are super punctual, with the exception of a few. Some professors may decide to lock you out if you come late to class.
- Appointments are crucial, even when you lost your phone and wanted to make a police report.
- Similarly, when you are sick, you need to make a doctor's appointment. If you're lucky, you can see the doctor on the next day.
- If you can't bike, you seem like a handicapped person in the Netherlands.
- Consider yourself comparable to a Dutch when you know how to bike while drinking beer, dragging a luggage behind you, or some crazy stunts.
- 'Gratis' is a nice word.
- They put sate sauce (Indonesian peanut sauce) on fried rice and even French fries (they call it the French fries warfare). And I really still find it weird up till this day.
- Ketjap manis in the Netherlands doesn't taste really good.
- Words borrowed from Indonesian language seemed to be written in what we call "ejaan lama / Van Ophuijsen" or "old spellings" in Indonesia (use Google's translation function to read the article about Van Ophuijsen spellings - it's in Indonesian). After all, Indonesia was colonized for 300 years by the V.O.C.
- When washing dishes, the Dutch people do it like how the street food carts wash dishes in Indonesia: the same water with some dishwashing liquid, reused over and over again to wash and to rinse the plates (they don't use clean water to rinse the plates).
- You hear so much "khrrr" sounds in Dutch sentences, and you'd probably be interested to try mimicking that sound for a while (if you're not so used to it).
- The Dutch people have a different sense of humour that might be a little bit hard to understand. Sometimes, you might think it's a cruel joke, but you'll get used to it. They don't mean harm.
- If you don't want to eat insipid, cold sandwich with only either one slice of cheese or one slice of ham, with no tomatoes, lettuce, or sauces of any kinds, or eat fresh cucumbers during lunch, then you have not adapted well to the Dutch culture.
- You will get familiar with the smell of weeds.
- If you have a somewhat fair skin and eyes that are not as big as the Europeans or the Latins, random Dutch students on campus may shout "nihao" to you regardless of where you come from. And I still don't get why they find this amusing.
- Most Dutch people pronounce "idea" as "ID". At specific occasions, it can be pretty confusing until you get used to it.
- Kroket is eaten with a toast or bread. McDonald's in the Netherlands even sells McKroket, which is basically a burger with kroket inside.

2nd stop: University College Cork, Ireland
- The houses are colourful because it is almost always cloudy and gloomy.
- There is no special bike lanes, unlike in the Netherlands.
- The Irish are unbelievably nice. They are almost like saints, and I'm not joking. I wonder how this kind of nice culture can be developed. A bus driver stopping the bus in the middle of the road to show you directions, and no cars behind the bus honking in anger? Uber coolness.
- If you open a door first and you see someone coming from another side, open the door and let that person pass first.
- Paddy Wagon is the best friend of students who like to travel around Ireland.
- The English Market is super awesome, and chicken and pork meat are insanely cheap.
- Bailey's cheesecake is a must to try, especially when Bailey's originated in Ireland. Anyways, there are a lot of Bailey's product in Ireland that you should try, including this Bailey's chocolate sticks.
- Guinness ice cream is nice, even if you don't like Guinness (I think it tasted like medicine).
- It's quite difficult to understand the English accents and expressions of the Irish, but after 2-3 weeks you'll get used to it.
- Girls wear 15cm heels and dresses with ultra short skirts at night to the pub / club / bar. Very sexy.

3rd stop: AgroParis Tech, France
- The French are, in general, not so friendly to those who don't speak French. Of course there are exceptions.
- Speaking English is definitely not a plus point when you're in France.
- If you try your best to speak French, people are in general more willing to help you.
- Pickpockets are everywhere on the train and train stations. Always be alert.
- The trains in Paris smell bad. Most of the time.
- Paris is the heaven for food. Almost always you will find good food, although your wallet may hurt.
- Baguette is a student's best friend. It's cheap (80 cents each), it's long, and the best is the one that just came out of the oven. It's crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside. In Indonesia, a baguette can be used to hit a house burglar, just like a baseball bat.
- McDonald's in Paris sells baguette, too.
- Eating too much baguette may cause horizontal expansion of your body. Not kidding.
- 3 course meal for 3.10 euros from school cafetaria is awesome. But again, horizontal expansion of your body is inevitable.
- Lunch time is 1.5 hours.
- When you're under 25 and you're a student, go to as many museums as you can because they're free.
- Never go to Notre Dame du Paris during Easter if you want to pray properly. The tourists and their cameras will distract you, and prevent you from getting a seat.
- International mass at church means having the first reading in English, and the rest of the mass is a mix of Italian, Spanish and Latin.
- Macarons are everywhere. And Laduree is a little bit overrated.
- If you walk along Champs-Élysées, you will find Asians (especially from China and Indonesia) crowding expensive stores like Louis Vuitton and Long Champ.
- Arab Markets are great places to buy cheap, fresh fruits and veggies. And even your undies.

4th stop: Lund University, Sweden
- Fika (a break) is an essential part of the Swedish culture. No matter what, they always have fika every day without fail.
- Lagom is also an important word, which means "not too much, not too little".
- Once again, you will need a bike.
- Going to IKEA is always awesome, even though now it is owned by the Dutch.
- Swedish meatballs should be accompanied with lingonberry, and not cranberry. It's different.
- H&M is a Swedish brand, but the prices are not any cheaper. Still, they have good collections, especially when you go to Stockholm. There are at least 5 H&Ms around the city centre, one of those being called H&M Home (the 'headquarter' of H&M).
- Herrings, herrings and herrings of all types.
- Pickles in Sweden contain mostly sugar.
- Cheesecake in Sweden can be savoury, filled with seafood.
- Sweden is a safe country, but it doesn't mean that you can lower your guard down. 3 people, including me, had their phones stolen.
- Skåne is a region in south of Sweden.
- Everyone in Sweden is always ready for summer. Weekend + sunny weather = picnic.
- Good weather = barbecue time.
- Sometimes, when it says 10:00 on a schedule, it means 10:15.
- Travelling with Jojo card saves you 10% of travel cost.
- Buying duo-family ticket (works for 2 adults) saves you additional 20% of travel cost. Sadly, you have to travel in even numbers.
- You can pay tickets from the ticketing office with a combination of jojo card, cash or card.
- Getting a bike in early May is difficult because everyone graduates in late May.


And aside from this, I'm sure I have some learning points missing. This one year has been filled with a lot of learnings: in class and outside the class. The differences in cultures and perspectives can be somewhat a challenge, but this one year is the perfect time to not only notice the differences, but also to understand the differences and to learn to compromise. I have never been immersed in a group so rich in cultural differences, and I have to thank this masters program for it.

This one year has been very awesome, and even though it comes with a price of having to move almost every two months with all belongings, worrying about overweight luggages and shipments, with internship, where to stay next, an ongoing team project, classes and exams, financial spending... it's not as breezy as people think about this program. But it's definitely worth all the effort :)

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Ireland - Blarney Castle

One fine Saturday, we decided to visit Blarney Castle, which is located about 20 minutes away by bus from where we live in Cork.

Rather than just the castle, I personally think the landscape around the castle is much more interesting.

Well, we had a little bit of fun near the water ;)

The castle itself was like a labyrinth: you have to go through tunnels to reach the rooms, and not all rooms are connected to each other. The stairs are fairly scary to climb because the steps are not that wide and you can only hang onto the rope. Oh, and the height of each step is pretty high too.

We climbed all the way to the highest part of the castle where the Blarney Stone is located. According to the story, the owner of the castle, Blarney, became eloquent  after being told by a witch to kiss that stone.

Since I was there, I tried to kiss the Blarney Stone. It was a little scary because you have to bend downwards. You can hold on to the bars, and there's a guy who would assist you so you don't fall when you kiss it. Still, the part where I bent myself backwards made my heart raced a little bit. Ah, and I had to take off my glasses. What a pity.

There are a lot of things to explore around the Blarney Castle. The fern garden was rather interesting; my friends and I agreed that our first impression of the garden was "Jurassic Park". The poison garden was kind of barren when we visited it (mid-Feb), so I was a little disappointed. There are also areas with mystic backgrounds around, such as the Wishing Steps, the Witches Kitchen, the Druids Cave, the witches Stone, the Druids Circle, the Sacrificial Altar (this really sounds scary) and the Fairy Glade.

Nope, I didn't see a fairy.

I still have more pictures on my camera. I had no time to transfer them to my computer. I'll do that... maybe next week. Yeah. We are leaving Ireland soon, so we are currently pretty busy with packing and shipping some of our belongings to Paris.

I'm really going to miss Ireland!

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Ireland - Birthday Party!

I'm not sure if the Irish have their special way to celebrate birthday, but we decided to have another international potluck. It's nice to be in a group of food tech fellows from all around the world.

More food was coming because half of us live in a different housing, about 20 minutes by bus, 40 minutes on foot. Honey mustard glazed ham, fried rice, beef wraps, pad thai, sandwich, chocolate fudge, pizza, lemon cupcake, sweet glutinous rice balls, ginger chicken... and of course, accompanied by a mix of Irish cider and beer. Somehow we've grown a liking to that combination.

We went to a bar for drinks afterwards. That was a great night :)

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Ireland - Celebrating Chinese New Year

I just realized that this post was left unpublished 2 weeks after Chinese New Year. Anyways, Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate!

I had this wonderful plan to go to Dublin to join my friend for New Year Eve's dinner with the Singaporean students association, but there were some unexpected agenda that cannot be dismissed, so I ended up canceling the trip. And I don't want to join the dinner looking like a person who's about to collapse from consecutive days of sleepless nights and 6-hour meeting just before riding a 3-hour bus ride.

Everyone was tired and no one was in the mood for cooking. We ordered fast food (I ordered fish and chips - at least the fish part is still an ingredient you find in Chinese new year food), which turned out to be very unappetizing and most of us ended up not being able to finish the meal. 

Even with all these things going on, I'm glad that I had a pre-Chinese New Year Eve celebration with my former high school classmate and her Malaysian friends!

Steamed seabass with soy sauce, ginger and fish sauce

Lotus root

5-spice chicken

Stir-fried vegetable

Barley jelly dessert

Gong Xi Fa Cai! ^^

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Ireland - Lebanese Pumpkin Cantellini Soup

After 1 month staying in Ireland, I finally figured out where the Saturday market is: almost right in front of our housing.

There were only about 10 shops at the Saturday market. Most of the sell food and fresh fruits and vegetables. I didn't see any shop selling meat.

There was a shop that sells Lebanese pumpkin and cantellini soup with 7 spices, which she doesn't remember all of them when I asked the lady who sold this soup.



I Googled "Lebanese 7 spices" and according to this website they are: nutmeg, ginger, allspice, fenugree, cloves, cinnamon and black pepper. Really, I just love Google. You can get all sorts of useful information you wouldn't be able to get 10 years ago.

I'm not sure if I'm fond of the texture - it's a little to thick of a soup for me.

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Ireland - Wheat Germ

It is probably nothing special for a lot of Westerners, but it is something really new to me.

If you are not familiar with the structure of wheat in English, you'd probably think of "germ" as microorganism, as my friend did when I told her "I got wheat germ today."

The germ is actually part of the kernel of the wheat that is responsible for germination, which is to say that it contains a lot of protein and vitamins necessary for its growth.

My Suppy Chain Management professor was telling us about wheat germs in class the other day, and based on the class's response, wheat germ would be classified as something an overly healthy person or a granny would buy. And that made me curious. Does it taste that bad? And does it really help with bowel regulation? I need to test it on myself, because if this thing is more effective than eating a dozen of prebiotic yogurt and the taste is acceptable, I would definitely buy this instead of some soluble fiber sold in pharmacies whenever I have some bowel problems.

I found wheat germs in the breakfast cereal section in TESCO, next to the oatmeals. According to the instruction, you can add it to soups, breakfast cereals or even beverages. I tried mixing a tablespoon of it into a mug of hot chocolate, and it tastes perfect. However, thanks to my curious question at myself "What happens if I add a lot of these into my hot chocolate?" after drinking half a mug of my wheat-germ fortified hot chocolate, I found myself stuck in a rather uncomfortable situation.

At high dosage, I'd say about 3 tablespoons of wheat germ into half a mug of hot chocolate, I could taste bitter compounds from the beverage. Not to mention the consistency changed a lot. I felt like drinking extremely diluted oatmeal with grainy particles and a hint of chocolate. Terrible. Absolutely terrible.

My Thai housemate, also a curious individual (but much less extreme than me), tried to mix it with warm milk and she said it was delicious.

I think I'll try mixing it in soups next. Or maybe in rice!

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Ireland - Kinder Maxi King & Pinguin Chocolate

I don't know if these are exclusively available in Ireland, but these two babies are SUPER GOOD. Kind of like eating Magnum ice cream, but instead of ice cream inside, they're filled with soft, fluffy, milky, heavenly filling that makes you go "mmmmmhhhhhh...!" when you bite it. In the case of Kinder Maxi King, there's caramel sauce filling inside. 

These needs to be refrigerated, by the way.

I friggin' love these!!!

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Ireland - Heinz Oxtail Soup

I like strolling around the supermarket looking at things that are interesting. They don't have to be a novel product; as long as they seem new to me, I'd take a look at them and even buy them just to know how it tastes like.

 

 

I don't know the exact origin of this style of oxtail soup but from the picture it's clearly different from Indonesian oxtail soup.

(Image courtesy of http://www.sleeplessinkl.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/sop-buntut.jpg)

The ingredients are indeed very different, as the main ingredient of this soup seems to be tomato and not the oxtail itself. So it's more like tomato soup plus some oxtail meat inside. One can of this soup has a rather low calorie (166 kcal), low fat and also low sodium. I'm not particularly interested whether it's healthy or not, but I just want to try tasting it.

 

.....

 

I think it's clearly visible that there is veeeeeery tiny amount of meat in the soup. Well, what do you expect of a 166 kcal soup? There are little chunks of carrots, but not that many either.

 

The taste? Hmm.... there's this taste that is similar to fishy taste that I am not really fond of. Also, this soup doesn't taste beefy. I'm not really sure how to describe the flavour. The texture is okay, although I'm not a big fan of soups thickened by some sort of starch or other thickeners.

 

I don't think I'll buy this again, but I'm glad I tasted it. 

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Instant Noodle around the World 15 - Knorr Quick Lunch Spaghetti Carbonara

Technically, you would call spaghetti "pasta" and not "instant noodle", but considering that pasta is derived from Chinese noodle, you can still call spaghetti "noodle". So, instant spaghetti = instant noodle, no?

I found this Knorr Quick Lunch Spaghetti Carbonara from TESCO in Cork, Ireland.

The cooking instruction is pretty much the similar to that of general instant cup noodles. High in fats, so it definitely suits its name "Quick Lunch". I don't want to eat that much fats for dinner. Not when I'm not in shape.

Everything is premixed inside the cup. The spaghetti is a little thin - I'd call this spaghettini or angel hair pasta instead. But I guess it's hard to cook something as thick as spaghetti just with hot water even with modified stach.

I forgot to take a picture of it after it's cooked, but it looks decent. The sauce is smooth and creamy, with little pieces of bacon in it. The sauce coats the pasta pretty well. I'm not sure if the water I used is not hot enough, or I didn't stir enough, or I didn't wait long enough, but when I ate the top part, the spaghetti is still kind of crunchy. I kind of like it actually, even though if you have high standard for pasta like my Italian friend who also tried this, you will not like it. A person who eats pasta every day (and cook it in the correct way) will find this a turn-off.

I personally like it, considering the price and the convenience. I'd say great job to whoever invented this instant pasta concept. Oh, and the good thing is you don't have to microwave it. It's my first instant pasta that can be cooked with hot water :)

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Ireland - Bright Colored Houses

If you don't take a time to really think about it, you probably just think "oh, what a nice color" when you look at the buildings in Ireland. Or you might not even bother noticing that these buildings are of different colors because you are dying to reach your target destination when you walk in the rain. Or when you're rushing to school.

Why are the buildings colored brightly? It's because everything around those buildings are grey. I'm not sure if these make any differences to colorblind people, but they do make a difference in my mood.

By the way, I didn't photoshop this picture. The surroundings of those buildings are naturally grey.

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Ireland - Baileys Chocolate Sticks

If you have some exposure to alcoholic drinks, you'd surely hear about Baileys. If not, Baileys is the mixture of Irish cream and whiskey. The first whiskey ever licensed was in Ireland, making Baileys a must-try thing when you're in Ireland. Of course, that is if you don't have any dietary or religious restrictions. 

You can purchase a bottle of Baileys in many countries, and the taste will still be the same. For me, I think it's cool to taste a product made in the country of origin. I'm rather weak with alcohol, so I don't really drink that much. I drink Baileys only when mixed with milk, or when combined with ice.

There are many Baileys-derived products out there. I've seen Baileys-flavored ice cream in Indonesia (not sure if it still retain the alcohol content), coffee mixed with Baileys, milkshake with Baileys... but I've never seen this product before:

I accidentally found these when I went to Dunnes Stores.

Again, I'm not sure if these chocolate sticks contain alcohol, but you definitely can taste the flavor of Baileys from the cream stuffing inside the chocolate sticks. Normally you can't really taste Baileys in most Baileys-related products, but I have to say that this one is insanely delicious. I finished the whole box in less than 15 minutes.

But one of my concern is that the packaging doesn't tell you its nutritional content. I don't know how much fats and sugars are in one box, but hey, indulgent foods are things that you know are nutritionally dangerous yet have high potentials to satisfy your soul :)

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Ireland - Cliffs of Moher

This post is long overdue. We went there the second weekend after we arrived in Ireland. Some of my friends went to the tourist center located close to where we are living (we are 5 minutes away from the city center!) and discovered a cheap tour package to the Cliffs of Moher with the Paddy Wagon. 

Before we reached the Cliffs of Moher, we stopped at the Bunratty Castle to take some pictures, and also to switch bus.

The castle was surprisingly quite... small. Well, it's is big if you compare it to a house, but I was expecting a bigger castle that looks somewhat like the Disney Castle.

Nevertheless, a castle is a castle, and I took a picture of it. The trip continued with a very comfortable bus ride to the Cliffs of Moher. There was a wi-fi on the bus, too, although the wi-fi didn't work ever since we transferred bus.

Since we were a little ahead of the schedule, the bus driver decided to stop by a beach close to the cliffs. I don't remember the name of the beach and there was no sign nearby that indicates the name of the beach.

It took us in total of approximately 2 hours to reach the cliff from Cork. The bus driver, serving as a guide as well, said that the weather in Ireland changes every 15 minutes. I was a little anxious because it was raining quite heavily on the way to the cliff, but the weather was perfect for sightseeing: bright sunshine.

You need to climb up a little bit to reach a nice view of the cliffs on the left hand side.

If you continue to walk further, you'll see a tower at the edge of one cliff on the right hand side. 

You can climb up the tower, but you have to pay 3 euros to climb it. I didn't mind paying for it since I probably will not come back to this place at least in the next 10 years. I didn't have any good pictures from above the tower, but my friend took a picture of me when I was up there. I keep forgetting to ask him if I could get the photo.

If you walked towards the left hand side (i.e. not towards the tower), you'll see a small path along the edges of the cliff.

I was a fool to listen to my friends' advice of "there's nothing else there" because apparently I missed the stone where a scene from a Harry Potter movie was taken. And it was actually my fault not checking in advance the key sights to see at the Cliffs of Moher.

We had about 2 hours to explore the cliff and an exhibition about the cliff (which I think is much less enjoyable than the cliffs themselves unless the weather forces you to be indoor). After that, we got on the bus, and we were brought to Boolin for a traditional Irisih lunch at Friz's Bar.

I shared a plate of roast beef with my friend, and each of us got a bowl of soup (seafood chowder for me, and vegetable soup for my friend).  The serving size of the roast beef was rather too big for the both of us. The food was great, especially because it's warm. I'm more surprised by the presence of cassava root in the mix of vegetables! I love cassava and I grew up eating a cassava root as snacks, so I definitely enjoyed my meal.

We took a picture outside the restaurant. I wanted to take a picture of the unique bronze chair, but I guess when girls know their friends are taking pictures, they tend to join. Myself included, of course :)

We made two more stops before we headed back to Cork. First, we went to the Poulnaborne to see the Portal Tomb.

When I heard the term Portal Tomb, I immediately thought of something that can teleport you to another world if you touch or enter the tomb. Well, indeed, you will be "transported" to the world of the dead because it's a tomb, duh.

The last stop we made was at a rocky beach.

There were other cars and coaches along the road, so I'm going to assume that this spot is a hot spot for sightseeing. The sight is indeed very beautiful despite being dominated by shades of grey. I didn't take a lot of picture here because it was really windy and you have to be pretty careful with your footing because you will be stepping on uneven rocks with irregular gaps in between.

The trip was closed by the presence of double rainbows over the water.

The second layer of rainbow was not really clear in the photo, but the bus driver stopped in the middle of the road after one of the passenger requested him to stop because she wanted to take a picture of the double rainbow.

The trip took almost the whole day, and I was consumed with fatigue by the end of the day to the point that I just wanted to grab a quick dinner somewhere close to our housing. Well, I had the best pizza in town (according to my high school friend who has been living in Cork for 4 years).

It was a really great day!

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