Thursday, October 04, 2007
Chapter 246 - Of Shamrocks & Guinness III
I was just uploading my photos from the road trip we did in Ireland to Facebook and I realised how much fun I had and how much I'm missing it already. Though I was initially dreading it quite a bit, it didn't turn out to be quite a bore as I thought it might turn out.
I guess I'll start narrating from the time we left the cottage, which was on 22 Sep 07.
22 Sep 07 - Goodbye Louisburgh!
Having loaded up the car to pretty much what was a VERY FULL vehicle, we left our cottage, which we had spent 6 weeks in, and the tiny village of Louisburgh. It was somewhat sad to think that I/we might never come back to Louisburgh again, not for quite a long time at least.
After dropping Vicky off at Shannon airport, Christina, Lydia and I set off for our road trip! Our first stop was Ailwee Caves, which is set amidst the dramatic landscape of the Burrens - which is miles after miles of limestone exposure. I've never seen such rocky landscapes before!
I thought the Ailwee Caves were a bit of a rip-off. We paid some EUR 9 to be brought around the caves, where we only stopped at 6 "stations", and it wasn't all that spectacular anyway. In fact, i think we found the gift shop and farm produce shop more exciting! haha... the gift shop was exciting because it sold lots of rocks (!!!) and the lady at the fudge shop gave us an extra piece of fudge!
Christina was quite excited when we stopped at the coast for a "fudge break". ;p
We sat by the coast, enjoying the crashing of waves against the rocky shores. It was nice 'cos we could be upclose to the waves without getting splashed.
As can be seen in this picture, the waves were pretty spectacular - there was afterall nothing separating us from the Atlantic Ocean... :)
PS: We also hammered away at this pretty calcite vein, although it was technically a protected site... oops!
We then made a couple more stops along the coast before finally reaching the Cliffs of Moher, which is touted one of the most visited sites in (the Republic of) Ireland. The clouds had started rolling in unfortunately, but the cliffs were still fairly magnificent....
The Cliffs of Moher..
To be honest, I can't remember where I took this shot, although Christina looks pretty happy in this picture. Then again, Christina always looks happy.
We then drove to Gort, where we were to spend the night at the Gallery Cafe Hostel, which i must say was a really nice and cosy hostel, though there were some quirky characters as well.
Like there was this girl in our room, who was just lying in bed the whole time (for about 3 hours, from the time we arrived and had dinner), with her eyes open and just listening to the radio - not even saying high when we arrived.
Then in the morning, there were this spanish girl, who was wearing a red spaghetti top with like a red thong, who was walking around the hostel to the toilet and while she was taking a shower, another spanish girl goes into the same toilet (it's a single toilet with shower attached. imagine a hotel type toilet, but much smaller.. ;p), and when the 2nd girl comes out, a spanish guy knocks and goes in. I found it quite amusing standing outside the toilet and watching this happen... (i was waiting to wash up...)
The Gallery Cafe Hostel
I guess I'll start narrating from the time we left the cottage, which was on 22 Sep 07.
22 Sep 07 - Goodbye Louisburgh!
Having loaded up the car to pretty much what was a VERY FULL vehicle, we left our cottage, which we had spent 6 weeks in, and the tiny village of Louisburgh. It was somewhat sad to think that I/we might never come back to Louisburgh again, not for quite a long time at least. After dropping Vicky off at Shannon airport, Christina, Lydia and I set off for our road trip! Our first stop was Ailwee Caves, which is set amidst the dramatic landscape of the Burrens - which is miles after miles of limestone exposure. I've never seen such rocky landscapes before!
I thought the Ailwee Caves were a bit of a rip-off. We paid some EUR 9 to be brought around the caves, where we only stopped at 6 "stations", and it wasn't all that spectacular anyway. In fact, i think we found the gift shop and farm produce shop more exciting! haha... the gift shop was exciting because it sold lots of rocks (!!!) and the lady at the fudge shop gave us an extra piece of fudge!
Christina was quite excited when we stopped at the coast for a "fudge break". ;p
We sat by the coast, enjoying the crashing of waves against the rocky shores. It was nice 'cos we could be upclose to the waves without getting splashed. 
As can be seen in this picture, the waves were pretty spectacular - there was afterall nothing separating us from the Atlantic Ocean... :)We then made a couple more stops along the coast before finally reaching the Cliffs of Moher, which is touted one of the most visited sites in (the Republic of) Ireland. The clouds had started rolling in unfortunately, but the cliffs were still fairly magnificent....
The Cliffs of Moher..
To be honest, I can't remember where I took this shot, although Christina looks pretty happy in this picture. Then again, Christina always looks happy. We then drove to Gort, where we were to spend the night at the Gallery Cafe Hostel, which i must say was a really nice and cosy hostel, though there were some quirky characters as well.
Like there was this girl in our room, who was just lying in bed the whole time (for about 3 hours, from the time we arrived and had dinner), with her eyes open and just listening to the radio - not even saying high when we arrived.
Then in the morning, there were this spanish girl, who was wearing a red spaghetti top with like a red thong, who was walking around the hostel to the toilet and while she was taking a shower, another spanish girl goes into the same toilet (it's a single toilet with shower attached. imagine a hotel type toilet, but much smaller.. ;p), and when the 2nd girl comes out, a spanish guy knocks and goes in. I found it quite amusing standing outside the toilet and watching this happen... (i was waiting to wash up...)
The Gallery Cafe Hostel
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Chapter 244 - Out of Office
weeeeeee..... Have currently left Louisburgh and am doing a road trip round Ireland now. Won't be having access to the internet till the 26th of September I think... Will post more pictures then! :)
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Chapter 243 - The Louisburgh Series, Part II
More photos - this time of the hills around Louisburgh. Had to rush out of the house with my camera at 8pm in the evening, drove like crazy to some nice locations to take these shots. (yes, sun sets around 8pm here at the moment)...
#6
Croagh Patrick, which is also regarded as the holiest mountain in Ireland at Sunset, viewed from Clew Bay.
#7
Clare Island. One of the many islands in and around Clew Bay. Clare Island is somewhat the westernmost island in the area, and the Atlantic Ocean lies just beyond.
#6
Croagh Patrick, which is also regarded as the holiest mountain in Ireland at Sunset, viewed from Clew Bay.#7
Clare Island. One of the many islands in and around Clew Bay. Clare Island is somewhat the westernmost island in the area, and the Atlantic Ocean lies just beyond.Labels: Geology, Ireland, Louisburgh, Mapping
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Chapter 243 - The Louisburgh Series
I'm almost at the end of my project now. Just 4 more days of mapping left before the fun starts... ;p (thank goodness!) It's quite a drag really, cos most other universities only require a mapping project of 2 weeks, and we've already done that TWICE, plus the 6 weeks of mapping that we're doing now... :(
Anyhow, I managed to snap some pretty pictures of Louisburgh, the town/village that I'm staying in at the moment. According to Lonely Planet, Louisburgh only has a population of 206. So just by the 6 of us staying here, we've increase the population by 3%! hehe...
Louisburgh Holiday Cottages - where I'm staying at. Not this particular cottage though.
Side view of the cottage, juxtaposed against the dramatic skies.
Walking boots drying out in the sun... It's usually muddy and wet from all the trudging in the boggy fields...
The local "fire station". I'm not even sure if it's still in use and not sure I'd trust it, with such a "cute" painted sign....
St Patrick's Church, Louisburgh. The local church. This was unfortunately a cloudy day when I took the shot...
Enjoy!
Anyhow, I managed to snap some pretty pictures of Louisburgh, the town/village that I'm staying in at the moment. According to Lonely Planet, Louisburgh only has a population of 206. So just by the 6 of us staying here, we've increase the population by 3%! hehe...
Louisburgh Holiday Cottages - where I'm staying at. Not this particular cottage though.Side view of the cottage, juxtaposed against the dramatic skies. Walking boots drying out in the sun... It's usually muddy and wet from all the trudging in the boggy fields...The local "fire station". I'm not even sure if it's still in use and not sure I'd trust it, with such a "cute" painted sign....St Patrick's Church, Louisburgh. The local church. This was unfortunately a cloudy day when I took the shot...Enjoy!
Labels: Ireland, Louisburgh, Mapping
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Chapter 241 - "Geologising"
A quick post while I'm standing in the telephone booth, trying to avoid the rain, and checking my emails.
Now to answer the question of what the hell I'm doing in Louisburgh, Ireland, when I could have been gallivanting back home in Singapore - to sum it up, it's just tough luck. ;p
You see, I was initially trying to decide whether to do GeoPhysics or Experimental Physics for my final year (3rd year). And I thought I'd keep my options open by doing a mapping project this summer, which is a requirement and accounts for 20% of my final grade if I did GeoPhysics. But I've decided to do Experimental Physics now, so technically I don't need to do this project. However, having accepted some £700 worth of funds, I'm kinda obliged to produce a project, and of course the added bonus of getting to keep the car I'm driving. :)
Just to give you a brief idea of what I'm doing/done before, you might want to refer to this post back in September 2006, when I went for my mapping course in Sedburgh. Basically, what I'm doing now is going around the fields looking for (bed)rocks, identifying them and plotting it out on my map. We then attempt to join up the same units (for example, a band of sandstone), and see if we can find any faults (geological faults... hur hur) within the map. That's as brief as I can explain it.
The weather hasn't been that great, especially on Sunday and today, when the rain was just pissing it down on us, hence explains why I'm back so early today. :) (helps that I'm the one with the car... hehe)
A picture from the beach the other way:
Waves washing through the rocks leaving in its wake a trail of white sea spray.
Now to answer the question of what the hell I'm doing in Louisburgh, Ireland, when I could have been gallivanting back home in Singapore - to sum it up, it's just tough luck. ;p
You see, I was initially trying to decide whether to do GeoPhysics or Experimental Physics for my final year (3rd year). And I thought I'd keep my options open by doing a mapping project this summer, which is a requirement and accounts for 20% of my final grade if I did GeoPhysics. But I've decided to do Experimental Physics now, so technically I don't need to do this project. However, having accepted some £700 worth of funds, I'm kinda obliged to produce a project, and of course the added bonus of getting to keep the car I'm driving. :)
Just to give you a brief idea of what I'm doing/done before, you might want to refer to this post back in September 2006, when I went for my mapping course in Sedburgh. Basically, what I'm doing now is going around the fields looking for (bed)rocks, identifying them and plotting it out on my map. We then attempt to join up the same units (for example, a band of sandstone), and see if we can find any faults (geological faults... hur hur) within the map. That's as brief as I can explain it.
The weather hasn't been that great, especially on Sunday and today, when the rain was just pissing it down on us, hence explains why I'm back so early today. :) (helps that I'm the one with the car... hehe)
A picture from the beach the other way:
Waves washing through the rocks leaving in its wake a trail of white sea spray.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Chapter 239 - Of Shamrocks & Guinness II
It's now 2.5 weeks since I've gotten to Ireland and started on my Geology mapping project now and have pretty much settled into some sort of a daily routine.
I get up in the morning at 8.36am, after exactly 5 snoozes on my phone alarm (which starts ringing at 8am), have breakfast, which consists of a cup of coffee, cornflakes with sugar, and two slices of peanut butter-jelly toast. Then it's off to the fields at 9.30am, where we stay out till about 5pm (or supposed to, although as it has been, we've only stayed out till about 3-4pm, cos we've finished all we wanted to cover, which is about 0.5km^2 a day.) It's not the toughest job on earth, when the weather is good, although we quite often have to battle the elements - and not just the weather, it could be the horrible midges, knee-deep bogs, or shoulder-height grass (of course, subjective to whose shoulder you use... ;p)
In any case, it's all been fairly "smooth-sailing" thus far, since we got here. No mishaps yet, although I did lose my geological hammer in the field, sadly.
Have taken lots of pictures so far and also managed to crack my small digicam's LCD screen, while in the field. Some of the pictures taken to date:
One of the places we've been parking at, where we then head off to the fields.
It's quite lovely when the sun is out, although it's quite often cloudy and drizzling/raining (which explains the puddles)
The rocks that I see in the field. This must have been a phyllite outcrop. ;p
"Kenny's Den" - found when we went into someone's garden to look for rocks (you get some amazing outcrops in people's gardens sometimes...)
But sighz, it's another 3.5 weeks to go!
I get up in the morning at 8.36am, after exactly 5 snoozes on my phone alarm (which starts ringing at 8am), have breakfast, which consists of a cup of coffee, cornflakes with sugar, and two slices of peanut butter-jelly toast. Then it's off to the fields at 9.30am, where we stay out till about 5pm (or supposed to, although as it has been, we've only stayed out till about 3-4pm, cos we've finished all we wanted to cover, which is about 0.5km^2 a day.) It's not the toughest job on earth, when the weather is good, although we quite often have to battle the elements - and not just the weather, it could be the horrible midges, knee-deep bogs, or shoulder-height grass (of course, subjective to whose shoulder you use... ;p)
In any case, it's all been fairly "smooth-sailing" thus far, since we got here. No mishaps yet, although I did lose my geological hammer in the field, sadly.
Have taken lots of pictures so far and also managed to crack my small digicam's LCD screen, while in the field. Some of the pictures taken to date:
One of the places we've been parking at, where we then head off to the fields.
It's quite lovely when the sun is out, although it's quite often cloudy and drizzling/raining (which explains the puddles)
The rocks that I see in the field. This must have been a phyllite outcrop. ;p
"Kenny's Den" - found when we went into someone's garden to look for rocks (you get some amazing outcrops in people's gardens sometimes...)But sighz, it's another 3.5 weeks to go!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Chapter 238 - Of Shamrocks & Guinness I
Hurray, we've managed to get on this wireless network which the College of Saint Scholastica set up in this area, cos they apparently come here to stay for 18 weeks a year, and hence set up this wireless network. Good for us that it's on all year round, although on the down side, I have to carry my laptop and sit out in the cold in order to get proper reception from the wireless router.
It's been 2 weeks since I've gotten here, and I haven't actually written a proper post yet, so I thought I'd write about my travel from Cambridge to Ireland, which was yet another adventure in itself.
PS: Although I'm currently working on a "Extended, Never-Before-Read Version" while being offline, on my laptop. ;p
12 Aug 07 - ~16 hours after I've left Singapore
After a 12.5-hour plane ride, and 2.5-hour bus ride, I got back to the familiar sights of Churchill College. I suppose after spending some two years in this college, you can consider it my second home, in some sense. I drew the keys out for my trunk room, where all my barang-barang was stored, packed what I needed for the trip, which included my hard hat, hammer, compass, waterproofs (very important), boots, rice-cooker, printer (and more) and then set off to pick up Lydia & Vicky from the train station.
The car which I was driving... and will be owning... ;p
From the train station, we were supposed to make an epic 4.5-hour drive to Holyhead where we were supposed to catch the 1715 ferry to Dublin, pick up Rachel from the ferry terminal at Dublin and do another 4.5-hour drive to Louisburgh. Unfortunately, things aren’t always what we want it to be - there was a jam on the M6, which made us take an hour longer than we’d expected. This meant that we got to Holyhead around 5.25pm (driving at about 100mph, which is about 160kmh), 10 minutes after our supposed departure time.
The situation was a little less grim than we’d expected though, cos we managed to get put on the next ferry, which was at 2.40am, which meant that we didn’t have to find accommodation for the night. There was a little moment of panic though, when we realised none of us had Rachel’s number, so we couldn’t inform her that we were gonna be rather late. Thus went this flurry of phone calls, where we tried to obtain Rachel’s number, which we managed to get off Lydia’s friend’s friend, whom none of us knew.
Taking a break/breather after getting Rachel's number.
We then proceeded for a drive around Holyhead, which wasn’t all that exciting, considering it was a Sunday and most of the shops were closed. Dinner was takeaway from some fish & chips shop in Holyhead, which was eaten at some pier. After dinner, we headed back to the terminal, where I took a much-needed nap in the car (being horribly jet-lagged and tired from the plane and car journey), while Lydia & Vicky sat chatting in the café.
At midnight, Lydia & Vicky came back to the car, and tried to wake me up, although I was terribly confused and disorientated, and it took me a while to realize who it was who had come back. We then set off to check in and board the ferry, which was quite exciting as this was my first time driving a car up a vehicle ferry. The rest of the ferry trip wasn’t quite as exciting as we all crashed out on the sofa in the lounge area and slept through the journey only to be awakened when we arrived in Dublin.
Inside the vehicle ferry... which was huge... it's almost a cruise ship really...
At Dublin, we went to pick Rachel up, who had spent the night at Vicky’s aunt Kathy’s place, where we also had a quick breakfast, before setting off again for Louisburgh, which was another 4.5 hour drive – This has got to be the longest trip for me yet, again, beating my previous record of 30 hours.
When we finally find our way to Louisburgh, we found Christina, who had been waiting at the cottage. We unpacked the car, which was fully loaded with our gear, and then had lunch, and went grocery shopping in town. It was nice to be nice and settled for a little while. :)
My bed for the next 6 weeks (or 4 weeks from today!)
It's been 2 weeks since I've gotten here, and I haven't actually written a proper post yet, so I thought I'd write about my travel from Cambridge to Ireland, which was yet another adventure in itself.
PS: Although I'm currently working on a "Extended, Never-Before-Read Version" while being offline, on my laptop. ;p
12 Aug 07 - ~16 hours after I've left Singapore
After a 12.5-hour plane ride, and 2.5-hour bus ride, I got back to the familiar sights of Churchill College. I suppose after spending some two years in this college, you can consider it my second home, in some sense. I drew the keys out for my trunk room, where all my barang-barang was stored, packed what I needed for the trip, which included my hard hat, hammer, compass, waterproofs (very important), boots, rice-cooker, printer (and more) and then set off to pick up Lydia & Vicky from the train station.
The car which I was driving... and will be owning... ;pFrom the train station, we were supposed to make an epic 4.5-hour drive to Holyhead where we were supposed to catch the 1715 ferry to Dublin, pick up Rachel from the ferry terminal at Dublin and do another 4.5-hour drive to Louisburgh. Unfortunately, things aren’t always what we want it to be - there was a jam on the M6, which made us take an hour longer than we’d expected. This meant that we got to Holyhead around 5.25pm (driving at about 100mph, which is about 160kmh), 10 minutes after our supposed departure time.
The situation was a little less grim than we’d expected though, cos we managed to get put on the next ferry, which was at 2.40am, which meant that we didn’t have to find accommodation for the night. There was a little moment of panic though, when we realised none of us had Rachel’s number, so we couldn’t inform her that we were gonna be rather late. Thus went this flurry of phone calls, where we tried to obtain Rachel’s number, which we managed to get off Lydia’s friend’s friend, whom none of us knew.
Taking a break/breather after getting Rachel's number.We then proceeded for a drive around Holyhead, which wasn’t all that exciting, considering it was a Sunday and most of the shops were closed. Dinner was takeaway from some fish & chips shop in Holyhead, which was eaten at some pier. After dinner, we headed back to the terminal, where I took a much-needed nap in the car (being horribly jet-lagged and tired from the plane and car journey), while Lydia & Vicky sat chatting in the café.
At midnight, Lydia & Vicky came back to the car, and tried to wake me up, although I was terribly confused and disorientated, and it took me a while to realize who it was who had come back. We then set off to check in and board the ferry, which was quite exciting as this was my first time driving a car up a vehicle ferry. The rest of the ferry trip wasn’t quite as exciting as we all crashed out on the sofa in the lounge area and slept through the journey only to be awakened when we arrived in Dublin.
Inside the vehicle ferry... which was huge... it's almost a cruise ship really...At Dublin, we went to pick Rachel up, who had spent the night at Vicky’s aunt Kathy’s place, where we also had a quick breakfast, before setting off again for Louisburgh, which was another 4.5 hour drive – This has got to be the longest trip for me yet, again, beating my previous record of 30 hours.
12.5 hour flight,
2.5 hour bus journey,
6 hour drive to Holyhead, (inclusive of 1 hour jam)
8 hour wait,
3 hour ferry ride to Dublin,
5 hour drive to Louisburgh
--------------------------
= 37 hours in total. Gosh. That’s almost 1.5 days worth of travelling
--------------------------
When we finally find our way to Louisburgh, we found Christina, who had been waiting at the cottage. We unpacked the car, which was fully loaded with our gear, and then had lunch, and went grocery shopping in town. It was nice to be nice and settled for a little while. :)
My bed for the next 6 weeks (or 4 weeks from today!)
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Chapter 237 - Ireland
After SOME delay, I'm finally on Ireland and have started on my mapping project. It's been terribly depressing thus far - the weather and everything else, but Kenny will be really happy to receive post! Post to Kenny can be mailed to:
Kenny Low
Cottage 8
Louisburgh Holiday Cottages
Bunowen
Louisburgh
County Mayo
Ireland (Republic of)
This address only works till 22 Sep, so give or take 10 days for mail to get me, I imagine anyone trying to send mail to this address should STOP using it after 10 Sep. After 10 Sep, mail should go to:
Kenny Low
Churchill College
Cambridge, CB3 0DS
United Kingdom
Also, my Irish SIM card number is (+353)857270650 - if anyone's interested to call that is.. hehe...
Till the next time I get internet access then....
Kenny Low
Cottage 8
Louisburgh Holiday Cottages
Bunowen
Louisburgh
County Mayo
Ireland (Republic of)
This address only works till 22 Sep, so give or take 10 days for mail to get me, I imagine anyone trying to send mail to this address should STOP using it after 10 Sep. After 10 Sep, mail should go to:
Kenny Low
Churchill College
Cambridge, CB3 0DS
United Kingdom
Also, my Irish SIM card number is (+353)857270650 - if anyone's interested to call that is.. hehe...
Till the next time I get internet access then....
