Eire Road Trip: A quarter of Dublin and full dose of Cork

Day 1: Dublin to Cork - Wicklow, Glendalough

We left Dublin at about 3pm, with Adam and Farzan coming to pick me up at Nabilah’s, also Lynn at her friend’s place. Adam was the official pilot during the trip, with Farzan being the co-pilot. Me and Lynn? Duduk belakang tahan pening diam diam sudah.

First stop was Tesco, since the boys haven’t had any anything to eat since morning. And yes, we were four happy tummies with food in hands since in Ireland you have to buy plastic bags for 30cent each. When you can get it free in UK. NOT GOOD.

Need to pay for plastic bags at shops: UK-1, Ireland-0

Note manusia paling gembira di tengah tengah

Then we headed to Glendalough, or Wicklow, or Wicklow, Glendalough, or whichever works for you. It was one hell of a ride, but the view was terrific! The first time we saw hills and mountains we were so excited that we stopped randomly just to take pictures.

Dublin to Wicklow: The very first stop

RAINBOWS!

Sadly the weather was being mean to us. It was raining like mad and we were all soaked wet but still insisted on a group photo despite the heavy rain and wind. Gigih.

Polkadots and raindrops

Wicklow: Literally mandi hujan

It is said that Wicklow was used as one of the settings for Ps. I Love You movie, but heck, I haven’t even watched it. Just read halfway of the book by Cecelia Ahern and fell asleep lol. But really, the lake view was breathtaking. Imagine a lake in the middle of hills and mountains with a waterfall as the backdrop. Just one thing, it’s worth to check the weather before going, else you’d end up like us, nak jugak pergi amek gambar tengah tengah hujan sobs.

Wicklow, Glendalough

Then we headed straight to Cork, at Zayana’s place. Reached there about 12am, so Adam and Farzan had to say goodbye to her ayam paprik yang sedap gila macam nak nanges tu. Hewhew. They headed to the boys house while me and Lynn stayed at Zay’s. Bye korang.

Day 2: Cork - Kinsale and Ring of Kerry

The next morning we woke up to the smell of nasik lemak cooked by Zay. When asked what time did she start bertukang, she said at 6am, when me and Lynn was still fast asleep! The boys later came over to her place to have breakfast. And the boys being boys, Adam kept on mengada ngada nak itu ini while Farzan tambah nasik entah berapa kali. But it was all worth it. Sedaaaaappp!

Zayana's place: Nasik lemak with sponge fruit flan/cake/whatever - all home made!

Happy faces for breakfast

Tukang basuh pinggan. Actually Adam did the washing, I was just mengada menyibuk. Sorry mop.

Farzan with his entah-berapa-round tambah

I was amazed by the house system. Really.

They even have their stock inventory! NANGES.

Family photo. They said Zay jadi nenek duduk kat sofa besar. Jahat.

The heavy lively breakfast was just too good to be true. It felt like you're in kampung again. Oh did I mention how their house is so big and so proper like a real home? With a backyard some more. Heaven dowh duduk Cork. So juniors mungkin boleh apply IUMC hoping dapat Cork nanti. Ecece.

Later nearing afternoon we left to Kinsale and Ring of Kerry. But first, here’s University of Cork.

Envy her slim figure. Next time I swear I won't take pictures sebelah Lynn lagi. SOBS.

The myth is that if you stand in the middle of the quadrangle you won't graduate.

But we're UK people, no need to graduate from UCC. Heh.

Adam playing ting ting. He found the pebbles amusing for some reasons. Strange man.

Kinsale was fine. It was a lot like Langkawi to some point, with a harbor and ships and yachts and stuff. And there was Fort Charles, which was located on top of the hill. Again, views. Excited!

Kinsale

Fort Charles

View from top of the hill

Then here comes the really adventurous part – Ring of Kerry. To be honest we had no idea what we were looking for, a ring? A well? A field? We kept on driving (well it’s Adam, really) and at some point got really demotivated by the crazy turns and bends on the road. Of course, the view along the way was fantastic, but we had no idea where we were heading to and driving blindly on a crazy road in an insane weather didn’t feel right. So we asked this one guy travelling with his wife on the directions. Turned out to be that Ring of Kerry is a whole course of road that could only be finished in at least one whole day! And there were no exits along the way. Either you finish the whole course or you turn back. We were only one fifth of the course, continuing the journey wasn’t an option. 

Everyone was like, where the hell are we?

Lynn seemed fine (she always is), while Adam having after-effect of driving aimlessly

Ring of Kerry, on of the epic views

So we turned back and Adam was so grumpy so we thought it would be nice to go home get some food and warmth. Phew. Wisest decision ever made. Because we came back to Zay’s place to find the house full of people and food! There were chicken barbeques, pavlova, chocolate moist cake, fruit cocktails, steamboats, mihun soup and all sort of stuff.  Say hello to happy tummies again yay!

All the Cork people with their endless jokes and smiles. THANK YOU PEEPS.

So there goes, first and second day of our trip. Summing it so far in three words, they were all sceneries, food and people. LOVES!