Monday, August 15, 2011

Been a while

Yes, things have been hectic since arriving back in Asia w/ my parents.

With dad's n-stage cancer and my sis family visit, got my hands full. And yes, the Ireland/London trip... All happening in the first 3 weeks of August. O, don't forget the ever lasting Motherland silly month-end tax reporting I am forever bounded to.

Ireland was good. I got to drive a stick shift Audi A1. So cool. The car was responsive and nimble. Loved it! Ardmore was the seashore town we stayed for 3 days visiting Iron-wife's god-daughter. Lovely place and friendly people. Seafood was awesome - black sole. Huge portion... I couldn't finish anything off my plate. Brown bread w/ soups freshly made. So yummy and refreshing. We visited Waterford where all the finest crystal used to be made. OK lah. Then Lismore where castles still dominate some landscapes. The last 3 days w/ no Internet access around Ardmore, what a treat! Finally visited iron-wife best friend's grave, 3 years since she had passed away.

London, as old as things could be. And as idiosyncrasy as ever. 90 GBP from airport to hotel at the Bankside. The credit card machine did not work on the taxi. Needed to pay cash. Ouch. Internet. The hotel Internet sucked. Never worked. I had to use Orange French wireless to buy a pass for an hour. The rest of the time was the free Wi-Fi at a nice restaurant across the street called The Refinery. Yes, the hotel Mercure bankside. Called 3 different people and got 3 different answers how to get on the Internet. Finally someone showed up and gave us the complete picture. It has to be done through the TV. Still didn't work. I gave up.

Will post pics later on the trip. Frankly, I would skip London and get to Ireland. A crumbling empire. It's crumbled and long gone.

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