Watch the Throne

Can you believe it... I watched the throne.

For those of you who do not know what I am talking about... I saw Jay-Z and Kanye West in concert. That is not a joke, you read that right. And I must say it was unreal. They put on quite a show.
To start off, Eric had these amazing tickets that got us into the "Audi Club". Which is a private club at the venue that you can go to and get food and drinks before the show. It had big lush chairs and tables and plenty of weird art on the walls.

We were able to walk right out to our seats in less that two minutes, and we had great seats.

I will try to get some videos up on YouTube soon and post the links so that you all can watch some of the actual show. It really was amazing, they had two stages that lifted up to about 30 feet in the air and Kanye and Jay-Z would be standing on them. It really was sick. Below is a teaser of what the videos will be...

Over all, I had an unreal time in Ireland. I am very thankful for those that helped me while I was there (specifically the bar maids). I was so glad to visit such a broad array of the country and I can not wait to go back for another tour of that beautiful country. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Ireland, do not pass it up, and feel free to get in contact with me and I will do my best to help you out.

The next series of posts will be coming to you from India... can you believe it?!?!?!
And the trip begins.......

First Leg through Istanbul

 Second Leg to India

Update! Watch the Throne Videos

The opening song

Niggas in Paris

Cliffs of Moher

So, seeing as I have been in India for almost a week now, I figue I should finish up my Ireland posts and move into the India post. So this should be my second to last Ireland post.

We shall start with a journey to the Aillwee cave. Apparently found by a man who went chasing after his dog. He proceeded into a cave no one had ever found with nothing but a candle (and I would assume a bottle of whisky). The greedy old man kept the cave a secret for 30 some years before deciding to tell some geology students about it. Obviously they went crazy and immediately began exploration into the cave.

It was  a really cool place to visit, the pathway was constructed completely by the water running though it. With the exception of the tour exit, the whole cave was naturally made.

After the tour we got some amazing cheese made from the milk of local cows. Following the trip to Aillwee cave, we went to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are quite a big tourist attraction, and they are exactly what they claim to be... cliffs.

We showed up on a less than desirable typical rainy Irish day. There was quite a climb to the top of the cliffs. But once up there, there was a beautiful view.

Next post will come shortly, and will cover a concert I never thought I would ever go to. Stay tuned!

My Goodness My Guinness

You may think you know the drinking culture of Ireland, but unless you have been here and experienced it, you have no idea. Yes, they do drink a lot. Yes, most of it is Guinness. But there is much more to the actual culture of it. 

Let's start with the pubs.  They are everywhere, kind of like Starbucks in NYC,  one on every corner.  They are all decorated to the 9's with old whisky jugs and pictures that look as though they have been there since before the building was.  They have a homely and inviting feeling to them.  It also helps that when you walk in the bartender is quite excited to say hello,  and even more so when you have an accent. I am sorry, but I did not snap any pictures of any pubs... I think my hands were full (or something along those lines).

The Irish take their beer seriously.  Obviously they have their Guinness,  which is more of a religion than a drink here.  For instance, every beer/cider they have on tap, the bar has the accompanying glassware with the name printed on it. You are probably thinking to yourself "Wow, so they got glasses from the distributors",  which they did. The difference is, you will not get a tap beer/cider that is not in the right glass. And they are meticulous about it. The Heineken glasses are chilled, the Carlsburg glasses have that funky shape and raised writing,  and the Guinness glasses are a work of art. 

When it comes to the actual pouring of the beer they are just as stringent. The head is perfect every time, period. If they pour it wrong and still hand it out, the patron will hand it back to them and it will be fixed without question or hesitation. It is refreshing to see a drink be poured and handled the way it should be. Unless of course they take too long... then I just get thirsty and agitated.

Their liquor is along the same lines. Each shot is pre-measured by a contraption the bottle is hooked up to.  There is no asking for a "long pour" or tipping well to get more booze for the same price.  I can understand that there is a science to mixing drinks that causes the flavors to be a certain way, but come on... just give me a little extra. On top of that,  they have individual little bottles of mixers that you have to buy in addition to the booze.  It is extremely inefficient and wasteful.  But I digress to my final point.

Drinks on the dance floor. Yes,  it is that different. Yes, most places allow it, but some do not, and for good reason I might add. Like I said earlier, they serve all drinks in the correct glassware, and this continues no matter the time of night. So 4am rolls around and they are still handing Guinness glasses to hammered drunk people who then proceed to the dance floor. One night I saw six glasses dropped and shatter on the dance floor.  A man from behind the bar comes out and does his best to sweep up the shards of glass inches away from entering a girl's bare foot. There is no punishment or recourse for this, the person just goes up and orders another 5 Euro beer, and is back on the floor.

Since looking through my pictures for this post, I have come to the realization that I have only taken pictures of Guinness... so, sorry about that.

Sorry for the long post yet again,  but the way a culture drinks tells you a lot about them as a nation.  So I enjoy looking at them and analyzing them. Next drinking culture... India. That will be very interesting I am sure

Until next time

Customs, Climate, Cliffs, and Craic

First, I will start off by saying that Ireland does their customs right. I was in the queue for no more than 15 minutes. Upon reaching the customs officer I handed him my passport and was asked two impossible questions. 1. How are you today? 2. How long will you be here? That was all, no pressing questions about where I will be staying, what I will be doing, or who I will be spending my time with. It was fantastic! I collected my bag and made my way out without the slightest look from any of the customs agents. I was lucky enough to find myself stepping off the plane after my 7 or so hour flight into a beautiful sunny 75 degree weather. After being thanked for bringing the beautiful weather by anyone who heard my accent, Eric and I made our way to Tullamore where I would be spending much of my time. The weather continued like this for a couple days, and I spent as much of it as I could out wandering and getting lost. I spent a weekend at Eric's house in Dunagul, which is close to the boarder of Northern Ireland. He has three lovely children, two of them felt the need to impress my by singing, dancing, and showing me their video games. Osien (pronounced Ocean) is 8 and is obsessed with Minecraft, and Neive (pronounced Knee-V) was so proud of her singing voice that she choreographed a dance and sang to every song that came over the radio. To be honest, it was quite cute and I enjoyed playing with the little ones. Around Dunagul there is a beautiful beach and cliff area that we spent the day wandering around. I spent that night out at the local club with Eric, his wife, and his eldest daughter (Erika). It is always interesting to see the club life of people in different countries and this did not disappoint. But more on the drinking culture of Ireland in another post. That my friends is all for now.

NYC to DUB

It has been quite a while since I have posted on my travel blog, but I am back at it! Currently sitting on a train in Ireland going from Galway to Tullamore. I began this trip with a couple day layover in NYC to visit my good friend Stephen and to experience the big city life that is New York City. If I am honest, I was surprised by how comfortable I was there. As some of you know, I hate big cities, I hate the pace, the attitude, and the harshness of them. But there was something a little different about being there. I arrived in NYC around 2:30pm, and was quickly called by Stephen and informed that I should walk to his apartment and get ready to go out for the day. So I dropped my bags and proceeded to get lost on my ten block walk through Times Square towards Columbus Circle. Upon arriving I was handed an ice cold Budweiser and instructed to drink. We then went to a street fair in Hell's Kitchen that was serving some amazing food and drink where we spent some time gorging ourselves. The street fair turned into a patio bar which turned into a college bar, which turned into a karaoke bar,which turned into........ well I don't honestly remember much after this. I vaguely remember returning to my hotel room at four in the morning after having shut down two Irish pubs. The following day consisted of rain, and lots of if. I guess New York was preparing me for Ireland. I decided to check out The Museum of Natural History, only to find what seemed like millions of small school children, were not the best thing for my debilitating hangover. I then hopped a cab over to MoMA and found myself wishing the little children were screaming at me rather than this "modern art" I have never thought so hard while staring at a pile of folded blankets. I did find a piece that I really like though.

After Stephen got off work We met up with another Culver friend and went out for some dinner and drinks. And what I thought would be a slow evening, due to my need to be at the Indian consulate at nine the next morning, I once again found myself closing down another bar and crawling into bed at five in the morning. I must say, for a city that never sleeps, you guys sure close your bars early. I mean... a fat white boy from Ohio is complaining about how early last call is. After successfully making my appointment with the consulate I went straight back to bed. I took the subway to Battery Park to catch a glimpse at a beautiful woman

Saw the current state of the Freedom Tower/WTC 1

I then finished my night by meeting up with some friends I met while studying in Australia. We went and saw our first Yankee game where we brought them some much needed luck and spent excessive amounts of money on $12 beers.

I woke the next morning, checked my passport and prepared for my flight to Ireland. That post to follow. Sorry for the length, so much going on!

Taipei airport and last post for this long trip

Currently sitting in the Taipei airport waiting for my 11:40 pm flight to start boarding. Then sit through an 11 hour flight... I had a good last couple days in Bali, enjoyed the rest of the meetings, had some great food, and enjoyed dad's birthday. It was just too damn hot to tell you the truth. I walked outside and I immediately started sweating, it was so painful to just be outside.

Well, I am going to grab a quick bite to eat and prepare myself for this long flight. In less than 13 hours I will be in the good old U.S. of A. Hopefully I will see you all soon, and thank you for following along on my adventure.

Uneventful flight out of Brisbane into Bali

Not a whole lot to report, a nice 6 hour flight out of Brisbane and into Bali. I walked off the plane and got hit in the face with 100% humidity and a blazing sun. While I am not complaining, seeing as I am in Bali, I will say I do not handle heat very well, so I have been doing my fair share of sweating. We had a lovely dinner by the beach and had a whole lot of good conversation. Today was mainly business meetings for Ferno. It is really cool to be able to see the different aspects of the company and all the different products. It is also so cool to meet so many people from so many places! I am currently listening to the Ferno Italy managing director with his very heavy Italian accent. As for tonight, there is not a whole lot on the docket, product demo and testing time, happy hour in our room, dinner by the pool, and lastly a massage at 9:30. For now that is all, I will do my best to snap some pictures and upload them, but I don't know if my camera can handle the humidity