Killarney wins the award for the most improved town in the span of three days. Wait, back track about a week. I went back to London from Edinburgh and got to spend some time with Joelle, my colleague from Cambodia. We reminsced about Cambodia, relaxed and caught up on life and encouraged each other. It was really refreshing to catch up on how God has been working in both of our lives. During my time in London, I did not do anything touristy except walk around- mostly to be in the atmosphere of the Royal Wedding. Congrats William and Kate! I also met up with friends from Hong Kong, from high school and also a friend from 1st grade. It’s incredible how fast time flies. Similar to everywhere else I’ve traveled to, I met and got to know Joelle’s housemates as well.
On the 1st of May, Jamie, a fellow student that studied at the castle and I hopped on a plane to Killarney, Ireland to our last leg of adventure in this side of the world. Ireland is known for it’s nature and of course it’s Guinness. Sad to say I didn’t have any guinness but we definitely saw a lot of nature. The first day we got there, the town was trashy to say the least. Drunk kids everywhere driving crappy cars that have a sport engine which apparently makes them cool. We didn’t understand why this town, major tourist attraction has turned into a frat boy town. As we walked around the park and talked to a lovely old couple gardening in their front yard, we learnt that we had arrived in the last day of the yearly race rally. This happens every year, and the same douchy guys come into town making a mess on the streets and in the hostels. It all made sense afterall. I guess it’s like the rugby sevens in Hong Kong.
We walked for hours, took a day tour around the Ring of Kerry, biked for hours and met fantastic friendly people along the way. Once the race boys were gone, the town was adroable. On the streets were either towns people or tourist strolling around enjoying the peace and green around them. You couldn’t even tell who was local and who was a tourist because they were all enjoying it just the same! I’ve learnt to appreciate nature in the last few months. Growing up going to holidays by the ocean, I’ve always loved to go by the water and appreciate God’s creation. I have never been a big fan of hiking or the green too much but the National Park in Killarney was beautiful. There were many different paths and we could walk around for hours and still not get very far.
Killarney was very picturesque. We enjoyed strolling around and taking photos. I’m not sure I’ll use my camera ever as much as I have the last few months traveling around, taking note of every thing I wanted to keep an image of. Pictures have a lot of meaning in them, whether its just a scenery photo or of a stranger that stood out to you. I’m not the best photographer out there by far, but I enjoy it and that’s all it matters.
After our three day trip in Ireland, I had one day of traveling and returned to Netherlands, to the Castle, to the village of Well and to my beloved friends I’d met to spend the night with them. It was a tiring and stressful day of traveling, but God watched over me and it went smoothly. Most importantly, it was worth every single drop of sweat. Want more details? That’s for the next post.
Joanne Lam 