The days without internet on board was gruesome. Firstly, there was no facebook, then no blogs, no emails, no online entertainment, no connection with the outside world, and no MSN to tell our friends how happening our adventure on board was!!! Our sole way of recording our adventure besides using our camera was the traditional way of writing journal entries and drawing sketches. So primitive! But I like. HAHA.


Day 1

There were a couple of really awesome things we had to do today. Remember we were interview by Galway Independent yesterday? Well, today we got TWO more interviews AND a radio interview. So funnnn.

We went down to the boat village area looking for the radio station. Turns out that the radio station was actually a mobile one - a bus! We never expected that the bus we passed by all the time would be a broadcasting bus. So Colm, Vani and I got into the bus to be interviewed by a Galway Bay FM deejay. It was really cool. Back in Singapore, I've never been in the papers, let alone on a radio broadcast. Super exciting stuff I'm telling you! :D But anyway, having to do a radio interview - and in a bus, is quite nerve wrecking because it's live and you have to be really careful about what you say. No room for mistakes because you can't take back your words. But everything went smoothly for us and before we knew it, we were out in the sunshine once more.

Down to the media center once again for two more interviews: One by the Hong Kong Tatler (OMG TATLER) and another by Galway Advertiser. Feels like we're some kind of Asian superstars ahaha.

But all this "fame" is gonna come to an end soon because TOMORROW WE'RE GETTING ON LORD RANK and this will probably be the last post you'll read from us until a week or so later. So now, what we're gonna do is pack up everything in the apartment and get our luggage ready to be sent to Dublin.

Our luggage has to be sent over because Lord Rank will definitely not have any room to store our HUGE HUGE bags. Gotta pack small bags to go onboard. But how are we going to survive? No internet, cold weather, motion sickness. Just some of the many obstacles we will most likely face on Lord Rank.

And so, we spent a last night out enjoying the festivities in the village one last time before we officially board Lord Rank.

Hold onto your seats for the next one week as we set off onto Lord Rank. See you in a week!

xoxo,
Mallory

Thursday, 04 June 2009

We woke up pretty late today. Well, actually just Wyncy and I. We kind of slept in because we were so tired from last night. After the usual routine of breakfast and washing up, we set out with just a few things in mind: doing a short message for Singapore's National Day video as well as going to be interviewed by a local paper.

We walked down to the river area near St Nicholas Cathedral to take our video. We had to reveal our feelings about Singapore whilst in Ireland.



Eric showcased his excellent command of the English language today. He made his wish for Singapore. "I wish Singapore prosperous forever forever!" Omgggggg. His English. :)) And because of that we were left laughing for damn long. And we were super happiness. 8D Imagine when his English teachers from the last 10 years see that. Haha. They will be super exasperate!

Anyway, I realize that even though I miss Singapore a lot, I really do enjoy being in Galway, even if I'm away from family and friends. Galway is just so charming.

And Galway is not just charming for it's scenery, it is also splendid for its cosmopolitan community. There are many people from different races and countries that live here. Indian, Chinese, Thai and many others. Through food, they make a living as well as give others a taste of their deep cultures. We were glad for the different restaurants as we went into an Indian restaurant for lunch. The food was simply fantastic. I really love the fact that even though we're in Ireland, we can still get a taste of other countries.


Trying to order.


Om nom nom. Wyncy looks extremely ravenous.


The entertained, the photographer, the hungry om nom nom Wyncy.

Almost immediately after that, we had to go down to the Media Centre one more to meet Colm to head down to the office of the local paper, Galway Independent, for our interview.

We were pretty nervous for the interview, actually. It's highly exciting to be in the papers! Hahaha. After a few questions and some honest answers, we swapped name cards and were soon on our way again. I'm highly happy cause our interviewer said our name cards were nice. Heheheh, being a designer pays off.



Front desk of the office where we were interviewed.

We proceeded to walk around after the interview ended. And here's our Eric Moment of The Day!! We decided to get some ice cream. Suggested by Eric. We strolled the streets with cones in our hands(Larry got Coke), licking away at them happily. Then Eric, being really Eric, had an idea. He had a gob of ice cream in his mouth and proceeded to pour Larry's Coke into his mouth in an attempt to make a float. But we all know what happens when we add ice cream to Coke or any fizzy drink. It foams instantaneously. So our dear Eric had a fountain of foam spouting from his mouth. 8D Genius moment hahahahaha.


Lovely field we passed by as kids played Hurling. Hurling is a sport where players use their playing sticks to hurl a ball above or below the goal pole. Above the pole gets you 1 point and below the pole gets you 3.


Hello kids.


And no, you do not want to get hit by someone with a shot they've hurled. You end up like this poor guy.

We went back to visit the village and watched the big screen showing some of the pictures on PIX.ie.


Whaddayaknow? Eric's and Wyncy's entries got selected and was shown on the screen for one whole day for the whole wide world to see! How awesome is that? :)

And then we went into The Dome as well. Inside of it, they played a really awesome video which features the history of the Volvo Ocean race. One of the things I remember most about that video is that somebody got smack in the face by one of the boat's parts. Like, OMG. I don't want that to happen to me. I'm so worried about getting stuff smacked into my face now.


Just before the video started.


That white stuff you see on the screen is water. We are gonna get so soaked on Lord Rank!

We met Bronagh once again. And this time, there was another girl with her by the name of Orla. And no, it's not the same Orla that we've been talking about all the time. Turns out that we were going to attend the opening event of Galway Arts Festival later in the day. And so we did go. The event was very packed and there's quite a bit of publicity going on about it. We left soon after the speeches had been made.

We moved onto finding a place for dinner. We decided on The Skeff Bar. Upon getting seated, Bronagh brought in a man by the name of Andy, who would be on Lord Rank sailing with us. It seems he's from Britain and does sailing for a living. Quite cool, how he's centered his life around sailing.



We seem to never eat out for dinner eh?



Intellectual thoughts about food.

By the time we finished dinner, it was about 8.30pm. And get this: We never return home after 7pm. And the bad thing about all this? We were going to watch a concert at 9pm at the port. And it was so so so so so so COLD at 8.30pm. The worst thing: Vani and I did NOT pack a jacket in our bags in the morning when we left because we assumed today would be the same as any other.

Nonetheless, the concert was really awesome; we caught performances by a band called Aslan. We thoroughly enjoyed their music and it's apparent that the locals do as well. As we pulled away from the crowd in front of the stage, we were just so overwhelmed at the turnout of the concert; there were so many people attending the concert! These guys are really popular man.


Pretty pretty port at night.


Night lighting is awesome!

Anyway, the weather got too cold for us as we attempted to get some nightshots at the port. We hopped onto a cab and made a speedy escape into the confines of the apartment, where we are all resting now.

As the day when we set off on the Lord Rank draws nearer, our hearts are growing fonder and fonder for Galway. The streets, sights and smells are now so familiar to us that we feel like we could live here for a long time. We are so comfortable with where and how we are now in our current states, Going on to Lord Rank is definitely going to make us step out of our comfort zones, which might be a good thing. But until then, we can only shiver in anticipation and live each day in Galway to its fullest.

Good night everyone, I LOVE YOU.

xoxo,
Mallory

Hello everyone. Today is the day that nothing's been planned for us! YESSS HAHA. We took the advantage of our absolute freedom by going shopping. 

And we found out that the guys are the extreme shopaholics whereas the girls are the ones with no stamina - we are the ones waiting outside boutiques, finding cafes to sip some coffee and hot chocolate while the guys whizz around in a shopping frenzy.

When we got back to the apartment, vani and mal prepared dinner while larry, eric and i made some lame excuse to go down to the boys' apartment to start on the project secret!

For the past three days we've been transporting stuff like the cake mix, cake tray, 125ml of cooking oil, 2 eggs blah blah down to the boy's apartment secretly. and tonight it the night that we are going to bake something for VANI'S BIRTHDAY! :D

from this..

to this! hurhur

Then a very stupid thing happened. You know, everyday, we're bound to have a person in the spotlight for doing something incredibly stupid and memorable. Today, it goes to... Mallory.

She bent a spoon real badly whilst trying to serve us some icecream. 

(We bent it back, of course)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VANI!

hurhurhur, 

Wyncy