I had the opportunity to visit the southern side of Ireland for several times. My first visit was early of 2006 when I attended an exhibition/conference on transport and waste management. Unfortunately, it was a one-day engagement so I was not really able to explore the city centre. For the second time around, I joined my Irish friends to explore the coastal areas - from Donegal to Sligo. My third visit was a memorable experience one and I dont want to explain here what happen on that day, together with other Indonesian friends. But because of that unavoidable circumstances, I was [View Full Entry]

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I was lucky to be chosen by my cousin to be his daughter's godfather! Having said that, I was excited to book my flight to Newcastle, a month ago and make sure to get a lower fare from easyJet. At first, it was really difficult to finalise my booking due to my deadlines with my university research. This time of the year is quite crucial but fortunately, I was able to visit the eastern side/coast area of Newcastle Upon Tyne - Sunderland. The weather is always unpredictable and due to the bad weather my flight from Belfast International airport was cancelled [View Full Entry]

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COUNTY ANTRIM IS ONE of the territorial counties in Northern Ireland where you could find several interesting places to explore. One of them is the coastline where two well-visited tourist attractions could be found, namely: the Giants Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede hanging bridge. Aside from these attractions, there are beautiful beaches and parks found in the county which I will also covered in my travel blog in the near future. In this journal, thru my photographs I mainly focused on the amazing formation of the Giant's Causeway as a world heritage site in Northern Ireland. There are i [View Full Entry]

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OVER THE WEEKEND I was able to visit the city for my regular swimming at Queen University Sport’s Physical Centre besides the Botanic Gardens. Prior to my swim, I decided to take my late lunch at the Filipino restaurant, Kainan Café and did sing some Karaoke songs. Singing with 'magic mic' happens every Saturday and having that somehow improve my singing prowess and hopefully to be qualified for the next season of the X Factor (UK version of American Idol)…hahaha. Well, not to be carried away with my confession, frankly I did win a grand prize in singing when I [View Full Entry]

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I ALWAYS PASS THESE PLACES EVERYTIME I visit the Queen's University to watch international films at the Film Theatre and to swim at the Physical Education Centre (just at the far end side of the Botanic Gardens). The area is commonly known as the 'Queen's Quarter' offering mix of traditional and contemporary cultural and artistic atmosphere, including Victorian and Edwardian buildings, and modern restaurants, clubs, and cafes. The Queen's Uni is the oldest tertiary institution in Northern Ireland founded in 1845 and established by Queen Victoria. It offers a diverse of courses both undergr [View Full Entry]

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LAST APRIL (2007), ANOTHER MEMORABLE EVENT was held at the city hall - a week of Titanic celebrations. This was the 4th year that the city hall held this exhibition in commemoration of the Titanic. This exhibition presented the development of the ship - from construction until the present day and beyond. There were images, artifacts, talks/seminars and stories presented during the whole week of celebration. This is the main reason why I decided to explore (since I was not able to attend last year centennial celebration) unguided this Portland stone made political icon of Belfast w [View Full Entry]

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I did my fifth visit to Thailand this year, but this time I explored the eastern coast of the country, Koh Chang. Originally, my plan was to visit the places where the tsunami took place in Dec 2004 and to find out by myself how these places revive their status as tourist hub. My Thai friend told me that it is quite a busy time and requires long travel to reach these places, including the talk-of-the-town, Phuket. So with her assistance, I was able to book a place at the Koh Chang Thai Garden Hill Resort for two nights at 1600 [View Full Entry]

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It was a wonderful sunny but chilly day, Dec 9/06 when my friends (8 friendly people) from the church and I joined together to climb this magnificent peak of Slieve Donard in the Mournes Mountain. It was a 5-hour walk from the foot of Donard Forest having a towering height of 849 metres (2,786 ft), with several mini waterfalls along the way. It was -4 degrees C during our climb and my clothes and shoes were not enough to cover me from the freezing wind! Mountain climbing is not my hobby but Im fascinated to do it once in a while, [View Full Entry]

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DURING MY THIRD VISIT to the US of summer 2006, I was able to stay longer (for almost 4 weeks) and visited some part of California State. San Francisco is one of them for the very first time. A month prior to my departure from Britain, I contacted my friend working in San Francisco with an IT firm if I could stay at his place during my short visit. Being a close friend and the godfather of his only daughter, he did not hesitate to answer ‘yes’ to my request. So, my accommodation for few days at the city is completely [View Full Entry]

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I AM A FILIPINO (aka Pinoy) and it is very ironic to find out that Ive not written any travel experience in my home country. I think it is logical to put the diary date when I was able to read and write at the age of 6. Unfortunately during those times, internet did not exist and Travelblog as well. The diary date that reflects in my journal is the day/month/year when I decided to review about the Philippines in a consumer site. It was not done intentionally, triggered by another review which really annoyed me and I was hurt [View Full Entry]

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