The Best of Dublin

I've been to so many places in the past few months I don't have the time (or the energy!) to give full-blown details. So I've decided to do a summary posts. I'll start with the most recent getaway - Dublin, Ireland! It's my first time to step into this part of Europe and its quite refreshing to understand what people are saying in the streets!

1) Ireland's oldest pub, The Brazen Head. Order the Irish Stew, or the Bacon & Cabbage, and drink up a pint of Smithwick's Ale (don't forget to ask the barman for a "Guiness head").

2) Ireland happiest pub (for me, anyway), The Cobblestone, for their live Irish music and low-key crowd. It was packed on a Thursday night--- despite the recession!

3) The Irish people - cheerful, talkative, storytelling, and oh-so-into the local drinks. It pays to listen to them! Besides the knowledgeable taxi & bus drivers, one of the highlights was getting the scoop on contemporary artists from an old security guard at the National Gallery (where incidentally, admission is free).

4) The 3.5 hours free walking tour courtesy of Sandeman's New Dublin Tours. is a great way to get an overview and history of Dublin. The entertaining tour guides work on tips and its far from the dry, boring, paid tours I've taken before.

Our guide, Helena.

Christ Church Cathedral

The River Liffey

The oldest part of Dublin Palace.

5) The Guinness Storehouse. I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of this super heavy beer but when it comes straight from the source it just tastes so fresh! Plus the view of the city from the top of the museum is hard to beat.

The best tasting Guinness ever.

View from the top.

6) The company. We were 7 in the group from 6 different countries. What a mix!

Philippines, USA, Macedonia, Norway, Malaysia, Mexico, Australia

To Europe and Back Again

I had 2 unexpected Europe jaunts this year. The first one, to Belgium and Spain, came as a huge surprise courtesy of Uncle D's 70th birthday. He and my Mom used to be together for quite some time after my dad passed away, but that ended long ago. Wonderfully, he still keeps in touch by snail mail (postcards!) from wherever he is, and now finally he has learned the magic of SMS. We also have honorary siblings, his children (although they are quite grown up now and have kids of their own). Uncle D, with his new wife in tow, always makes it a point to have dinner with me and my sister whenever he's in KL and Singapore. The last dinner in KL with him, which was a few weeks before his 7oth birthday, I brought over some pocketbooks as a gift. Little to my knowledge, he had an even bigger gift for me. He offered to pay for a ticket for me, my sister, and her husband to join during the big dinner party in Brussels!

It was a mad scramble to get my visa ready in time. I had to deal with a condescending consulate official, who kept on asking me for more and more papers. But Uncle D didn't let us down, he made calls, wrote letters, and voila, to the shock of the bitchy consul, I got my Schengen visa within 5 working days and the morning of the last day possible for me to leave to make it to the dinner party! Classic line from her "We have never been able to grant Indonesians and Filipinos visas in under 3 weeks. You're on THAT list." Anyway bless her little heart I'm glad I was able to help her break a record.

Besides the major reunion with extended family, a visit to old Brussels haunts, and a day trip to Bruges the "Asian delegation" also snuck off for a few days to Malaga and Ronda. The Spain trip was off my budget, and almost cancelled because we went to the wrong airport (Charleroi not National!). We made it with barely 30 minutes to sprint to the boarding gate because of the efforts of the efficient (and forgiving) Jetairfly check-in crew and the Vin Diesel-like cab driver (seriously!) who raced us to the right airport. Trying to practice my Spanish and seeing an enthralling Flamenco concert by Marina Heredia and the gorgeous gorges of Ronda made it all worth it.

The second trip to Europe came barely a month after, and this time the Swedish consul was wonderful enought to grant me a visa til year's end. This time I spent a weekend exploring Gothernburg with J.P. and her Swedish hubby, and then a few days in meetings in Oslo and nights out with ex-colleagues which made me see another side of Norway.

And just when I thought I got my Europe fill, 2 more trips towards the end of the year suddenly came up! One of them so close to a long holiday here in Malaysia that it would be a crime not to extend. As one of my good friends put it, I think this is my most "kaladkarin" year ever.

Now to get down to the planning part!

Dinner party at Cercle Royal Gaulois. You can't tell we just stepped off the plane a few hours before, can you?

Food and wine was a huge part of the Brussels experience. This is the raw (!) seafood platter from Les Brasseries Georges.

So this is where I picked up the shutter bug!

A visit to Brussels is not complete without stopping by Gran Place, by day and night.

New for me in Brussels - all that graffiti. But a lot of them are pretty good.

Finally I remember what those Bruges canals look like.

Beautiful old buildings in Bruges.

Alcazaba, an old Moorish fort in Malaga.

Malaga town centre.

The famous Ronda gorge and a view of the old town.

Think only Madonna can take a bow in the famous Ronda bullfighting ring?

Lovers in Ronda.

The springtime sun sets at 10 pm over Akerbrygge in Oslo.

Hiking through the woods in Gothernburg.

Back view of Telenor HQ, by the fjords.

Wet and wild in Gotherburg.

Santorini Select

The other day I downloaded the Picasa photo editor and I'm trying to figure out how to work the cool features like create movie...collage...and basic photo editing. I'm not ready for Photoshop but its time I graduate from Microsoft photo editor!

I tried creating this collage of Santorini, a place so pretty that every photo looks postcard quality. During my recent Manila holiday, while catching up on the cheesy Tagalog flicks that I missed, I watched the KC Concepcion/Richard Gutierrez starrer (the title of which I can't remember) set on the glorious Cycladic island. Though the plot was crap, just revisiting this beautiful place where I spent 4 days last September was worth sitting through it. When I look at the entire 400+ photos that I took of Fira, Palea Kameni, Oia and Kamari, I can hardly believe I was there. Sigh.

The Best Accidental Eats in Italy

The one thing I was wary about on booking a tour is being locked into eating at the most touristy places on the map. The great thing about Contiki that maybe some wouldn't appreciate is that they keep all the lunch dining choices open, and offer some included as well as optional dinners. I ditched the optionals except for the Rome one, and after trying the included dinners twice (not that great) I skipped the last one as well.

Me and a group of tour friends got a little more adventurous and decided to forage for meals on our own. Although at times it got taxing on our tired walking-around-the-whole-day feet and out huge appetites, I must say we came upon some highly recommended local flavors in the best cities in Italy!

Birreria Centrale in Piazza di Cimatori, Florence for beautiful interiors, juicy Florentine steak and authentic Chianti Classico...

The best gelato store in Florence: Vivoli (ok this was recommended by the Contiki tour guide):

I passed the wonderful restaurant Trattoria San Toma on my first night in Venice and though it was already closed, it looked so charming because it was open air seating in a secluded little square bounded by a church and some old Venetian buildings. And of course I remembered the name of the square easily! Piazza San Toma. Going back the second night was difficult, it was a 45 minute walk from Piazza San Marco through winding streets and bridges but it was worth it. The elderly Italian waiters were perfectly charming, funny, jolly and oh-so-Italian that they even broke into song while taking orders. The pizza and pasta were pretty good and the best touch was the roving musicians which even had the kiddie diners dancing.

Some really tasty Osso Buco in La Carbonara, Campo dei Fiori, Rome:

The best ever porchetta sandiwch from Cantina Foresi by the Orvieta duomo, washed down by a frothy capuccino!

Pisa: Perfect for Camwhoring

One of the funniest sights that greeted me on my Italy trip was my first view of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, accompanied by scores of people posing to pretend that they were hugging/kicking/supporting/kissing/lifting/holding/etc it. There are natural habitats for camwhores after all!

Of course I tried to do my bit, but I think I could have been more creative if we had enough time and I wasn't competing with tons of other people for the view. Still, I'm proud to have this classic photo now!

Santorini Lady

As i wandered though the small streets an shops at the heart of Fira, Santorini's main town, I didn't actually have it mind to buy anything. I was looking for a dinner place, I had already lost the shopping urge (yeah right), and most things were too expensive anyway. Most of the shops were selling jewelry that I was dying to buy, if one piece hadn't cost as much as the budget of my entire trip.

Then I stumbled into a gift shop called Gorgona, attracted by the beautiful glass pieces at the window especially by a glass lady in orange and yellow that I had seen displayed there. I almost walked away until the shop owner brought out another piece, this glass lady detailed with the black Santorini lava and white gold. Each piece is unqiue, and this was made by an artist named Efrosini who lives and works in Naoussa, one of the biggest cities in Greece after Athens. After furiously computing in my head, I paid for and her shipped to Malaysia...I didn't dare carry her along with me.

I wondered what made me like her so much when my usual color palette are the lighter turquoise and gold shades when I realized she reflected the colors of the gorgeous Santorini sunset.

Travel Planning - Europe edition

As the take-off date for my short European jaunt gets closer, I can't help but get excited. I thought so hard and long about this (and for such a short trip -- 3 weeks) that now, just 16 days away, I feel I'm already prepared. For someone who usually packs for a trip the night before its pretty unbelievable!

I've mentioned it before, I just love travel planning. Its convenient to hand everything over to a travel agent especially if you can afford the best. But I can't so its lucky for me that I find it more fun to see what other options are out there and put together my travel package on my own terms.

The internet also makes things so easy! Here are the sites I pore over to help me out:

• Air Ninja - lets you find a discount airline for your destination or comparison check between regular airlines as it also links to Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity.
• Octopus Travel, Venere.com, Trav.com and Hotels.com all help book the best deals on hotels.
  
• Trip Advisor - Lets you check location and hotel reviews and sometimes links you to rates. Its invaluable because it lets you filter hotels based on your travel style (singles, honeymooners, seniors) and also your budget.
• Lonely Planet and Contiki also helped me choose my getaway places, like Italy for my detour between Norway and Greece, and Santorini for my Greek Island escapade because it lists the interesting sights and activities.

Anyway I was able to use Trip Advisor to help me decide on my free-day-in-Rome hotel, the Della Torre Argentina for only Euro 60 a night (a bargain for a hotel in the city center) , as well as my little Santorini hideaway, Hotel Antonia in the heart of Fira for only 33 euros a night!

With my new pseudo-DSLR camera courtesy of Super F arriving this week and my Schengen visa freshly approved as of today, I'm really all set to go!