Irish Greyhound

Some time ago, Nel and I went to watch greyhound racing at Shelbourne Park Greyhound Stadium.


We lost €10 per person even before starting to bet - entry fees! Upon buying the entrance tickets, we were given a betting guidebook each. The guidebook records past statistics and winning probabilities of every greyhound in every race, as well as some tips and the hot favourites.

Nel and Ta Wei betted for most favourable greyhounds on the first few faces. Winning some races and losing the rest, they lost on overall in the end. Haha.


Greyhound racing is definitely a fun game! I suppose it's due to the element of gambling
During some of the races, I overheard some women beside cheering the racing dog's name. She was really loud.

All the greyhounds were given a funny name such as Egg White, Credit Alert, Double Twiss etc etc etc

Imagine hearing someone shouting "Egg White! Egg White! Egg White!" enthusiastically beside.


Greyhound could run real fast! According to info obtained from internet, they could run to the speed of around 70 kilometre an hour.


I betted for fun too and went for greyhound no.5 aka Advantage Johnny. I lost €2 on that race. Johnny, you disappointed me!

Bak Kut Teh

Last Saturday, Alan invited us to have dinner at his apartment. He just moved in 2weeks ago. He cooked Bak Kut Teh!! Nel and I were so happy. You can't get the dish here in Ireland at all.

Yummy!

Busy or Lazy Me

I am busy, or rather lazy of updating my blog lately.

I have been thinking of life in M'sia these few days. I want to return to M'sia!!!

I am serious. I miss the times while I was in M'sia. I could savour my favourite foods, meet my friends and parents whenever I have the chance, and go shopping even in the evening; shops close at six here in Dublin except on Thurdays.

I still love Malaysia despite that our country has always been everyone else's laughingstock especially amongst the international communities.

If, and only if I could earn the same salary as in Ireland and able to live in M'sia, how wonderful that is!!!

Oh, I'm a whiner! I complaint whilst I was there in M'sia and I still complain when I'm here in Dublin.

Rainy Days

That's the weather for this few days. So dark, so gloomy, so wet!

Tax Tax Tax

The emergency mini budget is out!
Income levy rates will be doubled which means I have to pay double from 1 May onwards :(
Whatever interest I earned for saving my money in the bank is tax at 25% (increase 4% compare to last year)

Is this budget going to help Ireland's current economy? Nobody knows.

Ripped Off

I felt like being ripped off by the Irish government.The income tax rates are 20% on the amount under the threshold and 41% on the above of threshold. On top of that, I have to contribute 6% of social insurance.

On 1 January 2009, there was an introduction of INCOME LEVY.1% of income levy of my GROSS INCOME regardless of what I have already contribute on income tax and social insurance contribution. WTF WTF WTF

Says individual A earn 2,000euro

2,000 x 20% = 400

An individual get a tax credit for 305euro per month.

So, Income tax = 400 – 350 = 150

The income tax individual A has to pay is 150euro.

And… individual A has to contribute 6% of social insurance after the tax payments.

Social insurance contribution = (2,000 – 150) X 6% = 111euro

And…

Income levy = Gross x 1% = 2,000 x 1% = 20euro

TOTAL AMOUNT PAID = 281euro. (281euro can eat 200plates of Nasi Lemak in M’sia ler)

And… there was a 21% of value added tax on whatever goods we buy! This rate has been increased from 21% to 21.5% from 1 December 2008.

Ok, so now you think you have paid all of them.

Wait!!! Guess what??? This is not the end yet. They’re going to change the tax rate again and it will be announced on around April.

Happy St Patrick’s Day and thank you for ripping off my hard earned money.

River Liffey

It's been a while since we last took photo around Dublin.

Below is a photo taken by hubby recently.

River Liffey, Dublin

Dublin city itself is quite scenic actually.
I begin to appreciate the beauty of Dublin City again.

Cold

It's 2 degrees now -____-"

Recession

Credit Crunch Credit Crunch Credit Crunch
Recession Recession Recession
Redundant Redundant Redundant

These are by all means the hot topics in town recently!

Everyone is talking about it!

Nel and I just came home after having dinner with some Malaysian friends.
One of them has been made redundant several weeks earlier!

Fear is the word!

Everyone is worry of the uncertain economic climate in Ireland!
As for me, I was no different with the crowd and was worried too.

I am not worried anymore as I feel that I've been lucky enough to have a chance to live and work here :)
If unfortunately I have to return to Malaysia now, I would have no complaint.

Oh my oh!

Since May 2008, 46,ooo people have been made redundant in Ireland due to the economy downturn affected by the global credit crunch. Mind you, the population in Ireland is merely over 4 millions only. An additional 1% of the citizen are umemployed!


Nel's company has sacked 21 employees in July. And 23 employees this month! That add up to about 30% of the company workforce.

Surfing Lesson at Bundoran

My arm is pain.

My chest is pain.

My back is pain.

It's worth it though!!!

Surfing is so much fun!!!

And Out of Nowhere It Arrived...

The sun came out yesterday and brought a smile to everybody face. What is so precious about the sun? You must be asking the question now. Me too!

I hate sunlight! However, you wouldn't think that way if you are staying in a country like Ireland.

~St Stephen Green in Dublin~

Temperatures hit 22C recently. We have already felt the heat. I think we are getting used to the temperate weather here. It's hot these few days! We couldn't even sleep at night and have to open the window!



Because....The season of Ireland...is basically summarised as...




Spring : Rain
Summer: Rain
Autumn : Rain
Winter : Rain





So, sunny days are PRECIOUS to the locals here.



Anyway, it was such a beautiful day. We had a stroll at public park in central Dublin today. It was so crowded.



It was so relaxing and exhilarating when you could have a break and breathe some fresh air after a long working week.

We saw this group of people. They were trying to form a word. Can you see it? It's ITALIA.

Oh, I miss my friends. I wish I could snap some cute photos like this but what word should we form? Definitely not MALAYSIA!!!!!

This cute little kid showed off his butt to his dad. He shake his cute little butt while screaming "Take my butt, take my butt!!"

Oh ya, we had lunch at Charlies that afternoon; a malaysian cuisine restaurant. We've heard a lot about that restaurant. Most of them have bad impression about the food. They commented the food just doesn't worth the money.

After trying a few dishes a few times, we opine otherwise. Instead, most of the food are quite delicious. I would rate 4/5 for the dishes we have ordered thus far.

Hai Nam Chicken Rice

Malaysian Curry Mee

From the pics above, you could tell they really taste good. I have no idea why do they warn us not go to the restaurant ever.

Perhaps it's because of the price. For the price like this, I could have 10bowls of curry mee and 10plates of hai nam chicken rice at Malaysia.

1 April 2008

Today's front page of a newspaper here published...



"Dubliners were waking up this morning to find one of their city's most iconic structure gone. "

Me : It's gone!?!?!!!!!

Then I continued reading the news...

" It is already on its way to Las Vegas, where it will form the centre-piece of a controversial new Irish themed casino called Emerald Isle.

Corporation contruction experts were working throughout the night to dismantle the structure in order to meet a dawn shipping deadlines. The secretive deal, believed to be worth billions, was finalise earlier this month.

One night-owl who witnessed the operation said the site was "absolute chaos". I couldnt believe what I was seeing, he said.

A representative of the Irish-American consortinum behind the deal said that the Spire will make a welcome addition to the casino. "

Me: What!!!! How???? It's such a big structure!!!!

Lots of question in my mind...

1) How they able to dig out the spire within a night?

2) If the casino in Las Vegas want the same spire there, why don't they build another one???

3) I thought constructing such a monumental structure would require complex engineering and contruction technologies, how could it be possibly be dismantle? It's not lego! You can't assemble and disassemble it as you wish!

Then I find out the answer.

Hubby passed by city centre today. He said the spire is still there. It was a prank!

What's today date?

Oh great! They published the whole front page of the newspaper featuring the whole story and pictures showing workers dismantled the spire. Even with a photomontage depicting the spire standing tall at the Las Vegas.

All is just a joke! 好无聊 ！！！

At least they got me! I thought newspapers are reliable sources for information and news?

I'm so silly. Good job though!

St Patrick's Festival

St Patrick's day is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick, one of the patron saints of Ireland, and is generally celebrated on March 17. The day is also the national holiday of Ireland.

Everbody was heading to O'Connell Street where the parade hold.

Full of crowd

Everybody wore the huge green cap. We bought ourselves each too!

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been anticipating for it. I thought it would be fun! Yes, I thought! Some said even US have more grandiose celebration than Ireland! How come?

The overall parade is for kids!!!

The bee and flowers...

Parrot...

I have no clue what is this?

Spider...

And fishy...

Is for kids! Isn't it?

Belfast & Ballintoy

It's a super late post =p

5 months ago, Nelson and I went to tour around Ireland. We rented a car and decided to travel on our own =) By saying travel on our own, we read the map and drove all the way to our destinations. Ok, not we, man does all the direction. I have no sense of direction at all, I can't even tell where is north, south, east, west! All I did was question, question and question.

Why aren't we reached yet?
How long does it takes?
Are you sure you're in the right direction?

When Nelson asked me to check on the map. I told him " I have no clue at all!"


When he asked me to drive instead cos I can't read map. I told him " Oh, I do not know how to drive a manual car."


Alright, it might sounds I'm useless. However, I'm a good companion. You should be glad honey! Hahaha!

It's our first day of travelling, so we just laid back and had our own sweet time. The main thing was to get to our destination, Belfast. After collecting the car, we kicked off our journey.

It took about 2hours to reached Belfast. Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. In case you don't know, Northern Ireland is part of United Kingdom. Therefore, sterling pound is the currency being used. Republic of Ireland is using euro.

We had lunch and strolled around the city centre. With Lonely Planet as our tour guide, we visited some of the tourist spots in Belfast. It's a good travel guide. Absoblutely useful!!! We snapped some photo at this Belfast city hall.

I didn't know Titanic was made in Belfast.

Queen's University. I didn't know tuition fees can be won? I thought tuition or course fees are usually given out in the form of scholarship?

Some casual photo of around the city and The Albert Memorial Clock from Queen's Square. It's just a small city =)

We then headed to our hostel at Ballintoy.

We passed by this gorgeous seaside - Ballycastle. I couldnt help myself but stopped by to snap a picture :p

Maybe it is not obvious from the photo, but the scenery is really breathtaking. With the cliffs and sea as backdrop. GORGEOUS!

Alright, no more wasting time. We reached the hostel - The Sheep Island View Hostel. It cost £18 a night for two. It considers cheap. Why wasting money to stay in hotel when you are not in the room the whole time, right? It's my first time staying at hostel. Oh, you can cook at the hostel. All the kitchen utensil, microwave and refrigerator are provided. I saw some tourists brought their own food and cooked their own dinner. There is this big pantry area where you can have ur meals and meet people from all over the world. We met a Poland man and had some chat too. But Nelson and I had no idea what was he talking about. He can't speak fluent English. At times, he even spoke Polish to us because he does not know how to confess it in English. It was disaster if you can't communicate with people. I'm not saying his bad english but the situation.

This is the view in front of the hostel. So relax. The view is just breathtaking. As if you see it from poster! Some sheeps is eating grass. Cute! White fur but with black face.

After settling down at the hostel. We went to Ballintoy Harbour. It just a few minutes drive from our hostel.

We were able to see sunset. Nice view.

End of Day 1. Lol =D

Ailwee Cave & Cliffs of Moher

Day 4, we went to Ailwee cave. Its features include an underground stream and waterfall as well as some very impressive stalactites and stalagmites.

Hubby said the Mulu caves in M'sia have got much more impressive stalactites and stalagmites than this. I have no idea. And I have no interests. Haha.

Somehow, it's my first experience to enter a cave. It was 10 degrees celsius in there, pretty cold.

The burren - the whole area is apparently covered by rocks. It feels pretty amazing though, seeing only greyish rock across the horizon.

After that, we went to Cliffs of Moher. According to wikipedia, The Cliffs of Moher are amongst the most impressive places to see in Ireland, and are widely considered to be Ireland's top tourist attraction, drawing almost one million visitors in 2006.

Everyone wish to get the best picture. So they just cross over this boundary eventhough there is a sign stating clearly not to trepass.

Daddy with the baby did that...

And most of them dont seem to be afraid of height...

They take picture like this...

Have a view like this...

Even the handicapped also took the trouble to inch near the edge...

All have only one wish - To snap a great photo!