Hola Madrid!
Went to Madrid last weekend! Last leg of my traveling for this year (i think – HAHA). Overall, not a bad place, pretty metropolitan, nothing very touristy, but enjoyable nonetheless! Highlight of the trip has to be catching Spain vs Argentina live. Totally aweshome!
How come he becomes a top striker only in Spain har? In Atletico Madrid’s football store at its stadium
Callao y Bocadillo de Calamares (Beef Tripe & Calamari Sandwich) – both are Madrid dishes apparently… nothing to shout about honestly – just beef tripe & fried sotong on bread only…. Old Chang Kee also have….buy French loaf from Delifrance lor…
Now THIS is something to shout about! Chocolate con Churros – a Madrid dish as well… but oh man… heavenly. Erh, it tastes like yew char kway dipped in hot chocolate whose texture is somewhere between hot chocolate and chocolate fudge… yummy!
Take el Espanol yew char kway….
……break and dip it into a heavenly chocolate drink….
…..and proceed to put into mouth…..
Mission Accomplished!
What exactly is a fried chicken ball…?? It ain’t what i think it is…. right….?
Got this for takeaway before visiting Santiago Bernebeu… don’t let the picture fool you… one of the best chicken i have ever tasted…no kidding!
Touching the pitch that Kaka and co ply their trade on
…..in the Real Madrid press room….
“Coach…which club do you think is the best on the planet?”
“good question… in my opinion i have to say MANCHESTER UNITED…no arguments there”
lol….i’m amusing myself
heh =p
but seriously, i think the club must have a narcissism complex or something… everywhere you go in the stadium, you see one sign or a banner affirming their dominance as the no 1 club in the world, or best in this or best in that, won more trophies than any other club etc… i mean, ok lar… it’s good to feel good about yourself, but truth is they have been really rubbish for a few years already. Barcelona won the treble last year and their museum didn’t even mention it much! Real got bankrolled by the king for the best players, and their few trophies won haven’t exactly justified their cash outlay… still talk so much… seriously…they sound like some club who keep talking about their 18 championships even though dinosaurs were still roaming the earth when they won their last one.
Saw this on the way out in the metro station…. do you see what i see?
No? Look again….
lol
Saw some interesting prohibitive signs in the metro too…
No praising/affirming
No mambo
Highlight of the trip! Spain vs Argentina live! What a treat!
The Legendary Maradona – this one’s for you PJ!
=D
More pictures on flickr. Ciao!
Irish Efficiency….
…… is a paradox. On fri, Ulric and I woke up bright and early to head to Garda (Irish immigration) to get our papers done up – we have until 28th to do it, and since there were no classes on Fri, we agreed to head downtown on Fri to do it.
We knew that we were in for a long wait, as advised by our immigration predecessors; so, to make sure we do not spend the whole day there, we arrived at Garda at 8:55am (it opens at 8:30am), and were prepared to wait for our turn at least till early noon. Everything should be smooth right?
WRONG.
The place was extremely crowded when we arrived (expected). So we queued. After 20 sec or so, a lady came out from the office, and made this statement:
“Sorry, you have to leave this place, we are out of tickets for today”
What in the KFC 2 piece chicken meal???
If it was a super duper long wait, i could understand; large and messy crowd, i could understand too; even if they tried to make things difficult for me at the counter, it will be tough to but i still would have been able to understand but
NO TICKETS??
wapiang, I’m in Ireland, not Indonesia you know? (this is with all due respect to my indo friends)
Actually, i wasn’t that annoyed; true i didn’t appreciate the fact that i had to wake up at 630am on a day i didn’t have lessons, but part of me was actually amused that something like this still happened in a developed nation.
Ulric, on the other hand, was majorly PISSED. Think he could have killed someone.
So, since 28th is the last day to do it, we’re resigned to skipping our Monday lectures. We are so going to take the first bus and camp outside at 730am. Not even queuing for Man Utd tickets ok =.=
Fortunately, the day didn’t go badly from that point on. We headed for brekkie at O’Briens, then i blew some serious money on retail therapy (trenchcoat, jeans, t shirt, scarf). How major? er… ask me personally. Lol.
While eating brekkie, i had a eureka moment:
GUINNESS STOREHOUSE VISIT!
Since we had nothing to do, and it was still really early, might as well right?
So off we went to visit the place where Guinness was born.
On the tram en route to the storehouse
Glimpse of the factory
HAHAHA
On the top of the storehouse, and the end of the tour (11EUR – about 23-24SGD), was the acclaimed Gravity Bar, where visitors could redeem their free pint of Guinness, and catch a breathtaking view of the entire Dublin City.
That’s how crowded it was
cheers!
On the way home, we stopped by for some groceries. Other than alcohol, i think fresh meat from the butcher has to be one of the only other things that are cheaper than SG. The meat is dirt cheap. Like seriously. Like 8 huge chicken legs (thighs + drumstick) for 5EUR – about 10-12SGD. Like, 600gm of ribeye steak for 3EUR. We bought 26EUR worth of meat – think it’s enough to last us for the next 3 weeks at least.
Today’s cheapo dinner (which will probably cost a bomb in SG, or restaurants):
Ribeye steak with potatoes and carrots and er, kailan (had to finish using it -yellowing), topped with creamy mushroom black pepper sauce – i’m really having a whale of a time honing my culinary skills! haha
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this is a little overdue, but thanks for all the birthday wishes guys! Muchly muchly appreciated. You know who you are. Love you people man! =)
Other than the Singaporeans back home, i didn’t expect much of a celebration right here, i mean, whoever knows me? But my housemates really surprised me. I was on MSN, and Ulric told me to go to the kitchen to grab dinner (was my German housemate’s turn to cook). I trotted off to the kitchen, and….
This bunch of people (with more in the background) broke into “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~~ (x4)” I only got to know them for 3 weeks! Apparently, my german housemate cooked up a birthday dinner, and invited all our newly made European friends. Could feel the tears welling up. haha! but was extremely, extremely, touched.
The mastermind
Birthday gift from Sebastien (german housemate) and Ulric. Bottle of champagne which was promptly drunk up.
Till next time!
Do I Have to Fall Asleep with Roses in my Hand?
lyrics are so poignantly beautiful…. sigh….
Back to Blogworld
after a self-imposed exile on blogging, i have decided to return to wordpress.
well, my blog address sounds deep right? It’s my attempt at mystifying myself. hah!
missed doing this man =))
a song that i am hooked on currently:
