One early morning, I woke up tired but excited. You know why? We were going to a houseboat in my father’s hometown, Alappuzha, in Kerala! I was so excited about it, partly because I had never been in a houseboat, and partly because I was so curious about what the exterior and the interior of the houseboat would look like. As we set off in the car, I grew more and more excited about the trip until one question came to mind: Is anybody coming with us? So I asked my dad, and he said, “Yes.” I asked, “Who?” and he replied, “A few of my old friends.” After talking some more, I went back to the backseat and looked through the window. About 1 hour later, we ate breakfast at my mom’s friend’s house. Then, again, we set off to the houseboat which was not far away anymore. When we reached the houseboat, I was stunned, as it was so huge and magnificent! The houseboat’s roof was made out of coconut leaves, which made it look like the one on the hut. The rest looked like a boat.
Since my dad’s friends had not arrived by then, we had to wait for a while, so when they arrived, we all took a good group photo, and we went inside. The interior looked just like a hotel, as there were lots of lights, so many artistic designs on the walls, and the floors were paneled in wood.
After lots of playing and chattering, we all went to our rooms to refresh. At noon, it was lunchtime. I felt that it was a good time to eat lunch as I was very hungry. For lunch, we had a very famous meal in Kerala, SADHYA. In a Sadhya, generally there are lots of things, but we had a mini Sadhya. In the mini Sadhya, there was rice, sambar*, paapadom*, banana chips, puliserry*, salt, cabbage thoran*, long-beans fry, vegetable salad, and yummy samiya payasam*! By the time I finished eating, everybody was finished with the sadhya.
After lunch we played, chatted, e.t.c.. This went on until a motorboat came next to the dock and the driver said that he could give us a ride. So after a short discussion we agreed. Getting inside the motorboat itself was a bit hard, but I did it anyways.
By the time everybody got in, the fun started! First the ride was smooth then afterwards the driver did a few water-stunts like doing sudden breaks, leaning left and right, e.t.c.!
By the end of the trip, we were all absoulutely drenched. After changing clothes we went to another boat ride which was thankfully not a motorboat but a slow boat.
The scenery from the boat was fantastic, with coconut trees swaying to and fro, the calm rocking of the boat, the nice gentle breeze, and a beautiful view of the sunset.
After a few minutes, we stopped at a place called the shooting place (It’s a place to take photos, not to shoot with the gun!)
When we reached the houseboat, it was full of dazzling lights! One of my dad’s (now my friend too) friends went outside to buy a traditional snack called pazhampori*. After a bit more playing than chatting, we ate dinner. For dinner, there was appam*, daal (lentil curry), chicken fry, and kadala curry*. When everyone was content, we played a game of bluff and UNO and went to sleep.
The next day, everybody met in the dining room and got ready for breakfast. For breakfast, we had puttu* and kadala curry*. When everybody was content, we all said our goodbyes and went back to our homes.
Glossary
Sambar
Pulissery
Cabbage Thoran
A dish with a variety of vegetables, masalas, tamarind, and lentils
A curd based curry
Cabbage is shredded into tiny pieces and stir-fried with coconut and chilies
Paapadom
Appam
Samiya Payasam
A crispy food similar to papad, but oil-fried
A pancake made from rice. It has a very crispy crust and a thick, fluffy inside.
A very yummy dessert made with pure milk, raisins, cashews, and sev. (Talking about it itself makes my mouth water!)
Pazhampori
Puttu
Kadala Curry
Yummy fried banana covered with batter (Banana fritters)
Made from grated coconut and rice flour steamed together
Chickpea curry
Image Credits: All glossary images are sourced from Kerala Tourism (www.keralatourism.org)
It was around 6:00 in a winter morning in July when me and my parents woke up lazily from the hotel bed, then, we realized that we had to get ready for our day trip to the Blue Mountains in the outskirts of Sydney, Australia!
My mind was filled with questions that were waiting to be answered during the trip. Then we started to get ready, and after an average breakfast, we headed towards the lobby of the hotel. Our hotel, the Fullerton hotel, was a heritage building that used to be the Sydney general post office around 150 years ago. Within about 10 minutes, we were on our way towards the Blue Mountains in a van after picking up the last family that was also in our group tour. After a few minutes, I had a question that had been pestering me ever since my mind got filled up with questions. The question was, why is the Blue Mountains called the Blue Mountains? When I researched, I found out that the Blue Mountains get their name from the special, foggy blue tint that hangs over the landscape when viewed from a distance. This vision is caused by the vast forests of eucalyptus trees in the region. The Blue Mountains is about 90 minutes away from the city, but it didn’t seem that long for me as I fell asleep during the drive. But before I went to sleep, our tour guide gave us a short and interesting narration about the history of the parts of Australia that we were driving along, and when he could, he also told a bit about what it was like in his childhood, the time when he and his family had to migrate to Australia from his home country, China.
After one hour, we had reached the entrance to the lookout in the mountains. Before getting off the van, our guide told us that if we are lucky, we might be able to find some Cockatoo birds. When we did see the birds, I saw that Cockatoos are white birds with few yellow feathers sticking out of their head.
After the Cockatoos flew off, we went towards the lookout. It was quite cold on the high mountains. Anyway, after reading a few information boards around the lookout, we found out that the lookout platform we were standing on was actually for looking at the ‘Three Sisters’ which were three huge rocks standing together. In my opinion, they looked like nothing but rocks themselves. They didn’t look a bit like girls. Only one among them looked like a face just because there was a nose and lips.
After taking few selfies and pics of us with the Three Sisters, we went back to the van. We then had to wait a bit for the rest of our group to come back. After about 6 minutes, our group mates came back. Seeing that, our tour guide announced that we were going to go to a fun place called the Scenic World!. When he said that there will also be some rides, my heart jumped with joy! I imagined myself and my parents riding in roller coasters and screaming with joy along with a beautiful view of a billion trees in rows (at least that is what I saw on the way).
But my dreams were shattered when I looked at the map our tour guide had just given us. It showed that there are only 3 rides in the whole park! Along with that, two rides in the park are ones that I don’t quite like, which are, cable cars. The names of them were Scenic Skyway and Scenic Cableway. I don’t like cable cars because riding in it makes my ears close and then pop which hurts. But still, I know it’s fun to be mid air with a beautiful view of a billion trees lined up on valleys. But besides that, the 3rd ride immediately caught my attention. The name of the ride was Scenic Railway. The reason why that ride made me get high hopes again was because I saw a carriage going vertically (almost) up and down on a rail that goes straight down! At least, it looked like that with a 52° incline. Still, I knew it was the best ride I have ever seen! The Scenic Railway holds a record in the Guinness World Records for being the steepest passenger railway in the world! Along with the map, our tour guide also gave us a band to attach on our wrists.
The Scenic World wasn’t that far away from the lookout, just 2 or 3 minutes by car. When we reached the parking area, we saw 2 entrances to the rides. One was crowded with people, and the other one was not that crowded. Seeing that, our guide told us to wait for him in 2nd entrance. After taking our coats (it’s cold in Australia as it is winter now) and cameras, we all as a group headed towards the entrance. There were small chairs inside for us to sit on while we were waiting. When our guide came in, he told us to look at the maps he had given us. Each ride was represented by a color. Here are the colors which represents each ride.
Scenic Railway – Red
Scenic Skyway – Yellow
Scenic Cableway – Blue
Scource: scenicworld.com.au
He also informed us that we had to return at 1:00pm if we wanted to join him for lunch. Others who didn’t want, he would come and pick us up after lunch. By the time our guide left us there it was around 11:00 pm.
The first ride we decided to go to was the Scenic Railway, as I could barely wait to ride on that one and also because our guide gave us an itinerary for which rides would best to ride first to last. The itinerary is shown below.
Our guide recommended to first ride the Scenic Railway as we get the best experience going downwards.
Afterwards, we can walk through the Lillipilli Link and then board the Scenic Cableway to ride back up to the platform.
Then, we can board the Scenic Skyway to ride straight to the Three Sisters lookout that we went to just before we came to the Scenic World Park.
Finally, after spending some time there, we can board the Scenic Skyway again and ride towards the platform, and take a short walk to the parking lot.
Before joining the queue to the Scenic Railway, we had to scan a bar code on a scanner to get through the turnstiles. I thought that it might take a very long time to reach the front. But it took less than 5 minutes to get to the long carriage. There are 3 modes: laidback, original, and cliffhanger.
ScreenshotScenic Railway
When we boarded the carriage, all three of us sat on a bench. Also, beside the huge window, there was a small switch. When I pressed it upwards, our bench began to tilt backwards! My mom let out a little cry as she got startled. After a bit of testing with that feature, the driver declared that he is going to start the ride and we better hold on tight on the rail in front of all of us. Hearing that, we began preparing for the ride when suddenly the carriage zoomed down on top speed! Every, single passenger began screaming, yelling, and shrieking, either out of excitement, or fear! My mom was doing all 3 of those, but she still held on to her phone, where she was taking a video of the whole experience! We also went through a dark cave, full of rocks, except where the rail was for the carriage to move on.
After hearing lots of screaming, yelling, and shrieking, the carriage slowly slowed down and the ride ended with a loud squeak. Then, the curved doors which looked like normal windows during the ride, opened and everyone immediately started to walk out. But me and my parents took a minute. I got the feeling that we usually get after or during a loop in a roller coaster. My ears also closed and popped, and I guess my parents also felt similar feelings too.
We then decided to go to the Scenic Cableway. To reach the Scenic Cableway Base Station from the Scenic Railway Base Station, we have to walk a bit through the Lillipilli Link. During the walk, we saw a big cave. On one of the information boards, it said that long time ago coal and gold miners used to mine in this cave. It even said that most of the rocks are even older than the Jurassic Period!
Information board about the cave
When we reached the Scenic Cableway Base Station, we then had to repeat the same steps to join the queue as we did for the Scenic Railway. It took a bit longer to reach the front, but that was okay for us. Normally, in cable cars, one single family or person would get a whole cable car for themselves. But this is different. When we were almost at the front, a person came to scan our wrist bands with a small, portable scanner. They did the same thing to the people in front of us. Afterwards, a group of people along with us boarded the Scenic Cableway. It is a much more bigger cable car than the normal ones. It has lots of seats and holds more than 20 people! Also, surprisingly, my ears didn’t hurt at all during the ride! I was pretty happy about that! We got an absolute amazing view of the mountains full of eucalyptus trees and we even spotted the Katoomba Falls, which is very thin if you ask me.The driver of the cable car shared a few facts about the Scenic Cableway for example, the Scenic Cableway is 656 feet above Jamison Valley.
After reaching the platform, we stepped out of the cable car and walked through the gift shop, to the queue. The queue to the ride was much more longer than expected. It took forever to board the ride, and when we did, the first thing we saw were the steps that led us on an opaque platform. Upon seeing this, I thought it was just a higher platform for shorter people to look over the taller people who were blocking them from seeing the view. But my assumption was wrong. When the ride started, what once was an opaque platform turned into a transparent platform! Suddenly, the people who were standing on the platform gave out little cries! I was excited and wanted to get on the platform, but it was too crowded. “Never mind.”, I thought to myself. “I can go on next time.” For the Scenic Skyway, we were riding on a yellow cable car. The only differences between the cable cars for the Scenic Cableway and Scenic Skyway was in size and shape. There are also open windows in the Scenic Skyway cable car, from where we can get fresh air as well.
By the time reached the Three Sisters lookout, we realized that we had nothing to do there. Also, the time was almost 1:00, so we had to join the queue again or else we wouldn’t make it in time.
The queue we joined did not keep us waiting for that long. The queue was crowded, but when the Scenic Skyway cable car arrived, the driver allowed more than 3/4 of the queue to board! This time, I made sure that I got a spot on the transparent platform. It was amazing! It felt both scary and exciting to see trees under my own two feet!I also experienced the pleasure of watching the valley through the open window, the wind touching my face gently as we move slowly along the zip line. By the time we reached the platform, it was almost 1:00 and we were hungry as well. We took a short walk around the gift shop and went to the parking lot. I guess we were just in time, as we reached there just when my dad’s and mom’s phones said 1:00.
After eating a scrumptious lunch, we stopped at a park where I ate an ice cream from an ice cream shop which is famous in Instagram. At the same park, we saw some Cockatoos eating seeds which were scattered in the ground. Seeing that, I picked up a few seeds from the ground and lowered my hand down.
Me feeding Cockatoos
Then, a Cockatoo came next to me and started to eat the seeds from my hand. Suddenly, it got a bit more greedy and bit my finger! I let out a small cry and rubbed my poor finger. Luckily there was no wound to be seen, but it still hurt! After that incident, I gave up on feeding the birds. I hopped into the van with the rest of the group, and fell asleep during the ride to home.
Can you believe that there is a dam in Dubai? Well there is and in this blog I am going to write about my visit to Hatta dam Dubai!
To reach the dam from the city, it takes about 1hr. We went there with our dearest family friends, so we had company in the long journey. In the car, we played games, chatted, e.t.c.. When we reached the place I was amazed on what I saw! It is a huge waterfall with the picture of the founding fathers of the UAE. The picture is a huge mural made with tiles and I loved the sound of the waterfall. Later on I found out that the waterfall’s name is Hatta Sustainable Waterfall.
The main reason we went there was to do kayaking so after we took a lot of pictures of the waterfall, we went straight to the lake. Since it was a steep climb, we took a shuttle to reach the lake. Once we reached there we got an amazing view of the huge lake. The lake was shimmering from the sunlight and looked like someone filled it with sequins. The turquoise water in the lake, surrounded by black rocky hills displayed a beautiful contrast. When we went to get the tickets, we were allowed to choose the kind of boat we wanted to ride. First, I said I wanted to go in the pedal boat. But since only 4 people can ride that boat and there were 5 of us, we chose the doughnut boat which I was very sad about.
When we reached the dock, I kept on getting static shocks. Whenever I touched my parents, I felt a very strong sting which made me automatically yank my hand back. I didn’t know what caused it, but I found it very hurtful.
To get on the boat, we had to wear red life jackets. When it was time to go, a man came and told us how to control the motor. It was very complicated, at least for me. When we want to go to one direction, we had to push a lever to the opposite direction. Everybody had a turn to control the boat. I was a bit confused and made the boat spin a lot. When it was one of our friend’s turn she lost control and sent the boat to the over bounds line! Immediately the other friend took control and 1hr was over.
After the ride we were very happy but hungry, so we went to a nearby restaurant and ate a small snack. With that, my visit to the Hatta Dam Dubai ended.
If you enjoy kayaking, hiking, and seeing huge water features, this is definitely the place for you.
Have you seen the Great Pyramids of Giza in person? Well, if not, this blog is going to take you there. Before I reached the pyramids of Giza, I visited another pyramid called Saqqara also known as the step pyramid which was built before the pyramids of Giza. Earlier, our guide had told us to go inside another pyramid nearby to Saqqara, called pyramid Unas. I was looking forward to this, imagining myself walking chamber to chamber seeing all of the objects that once belonged to a living person. But I was wrong. To enter the pyramid, I needed to bent down a bit as the entrance was very steep and narrow. But I got a closer look at the walls and was surprised that the whole pyramid is made of granite. As soon as I got to the end, I saw a room with walls full of hieroglyphics. I could read some of them, as I have learned about them at school. There was also another room where I saw a tomb. Luckily, there was no mummy in it. It was just one empty tomb. I thought of becoming an archaeologist when I grow up, but then, I remembered that every mummy has a curse within them. So, I stopped thinking about it. There was also a bad, musty smell in the pyramid, but I figured out that it must be because of the long time it has stood in the desert.
Me inside UnasHieroglyphics on the walls of Unas
After this, we took a lot of pictures in front of Saqqara. I was already starting to feel both cold and hot and I also felt tired. Next, we headed to…… the Pyramids of Giza!
Saqqara
As soon as we entered the gate to the pyramids of Giza, we saw a horse stable. Nearby, I saw a camel stable too. There was a man who is a trip agent and he took us to a room and closed the door. In the room, there was a map stuck to the wall. He explained in detailed about the three types of trips to us – small, medium, and large. In the small trip, we can see 1 of the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. For the medium, 3 of the pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and its temple. For the large, 9 of the pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, its temple, tombs, and a mountain with a beautiful view of the 9 pyramids of Giza. We had to choose one of these trips and pay for it. We didn’t have time because we had to visit the Great Egyptian Museum after this, but that’s another story! Anyways, we only had about 1 hour so we had to think hard. While we were talking about it, the man said that we can pay the medium price and he will give us the large trip. He also said that if we don’t have time then he can do the trip quickly and make it 1 hour. It was the best offer he could give, so we took it. Next, we had to choose our transport. The options were, horse, camel, or a carriage. Since my parents were not comfortable with riding on a horse or a camel, we took the carriage. At first, the horse was running very fast and it was a very bumpy ride. After few minutes, it started stopping then and there because the poor horse was tired.
HorseCarriage
Eventually, I saw the famous Sphinx ( a body of a lion and a head of a pharaoh)! But unfortunately I managed to take just one picture of it because the horse was running too fast at that point.
Sphinx
We kept on going until we saw the 1st one among the pyramids of Giza! At that point, my dad told the driver to stop so we could take a picture. It looked so huge as we were very close to the pyramid.
First pyramid I saw
After, we kept on going until we reached the mountain. There was indeed a beautiful view of all of the 9 pyramids of Giza! There are 3 big ones for the kings (father, son, grandson) and 6 small ones for the queens (mother, daughter, sisters).
All 9 pyramids of Giza
If you are ready to have a really bumpy ride around the whole place and walk a bit, then you will definitely like this trip. For me, I loved this trip as I was very excited to see one of the seven wonders of the world!
Have you been to a water-park in Honk Kong before? Well I went to one, my first ever! It is Water World by Ocean Park. At first I didn’t know that we were going there, because my parents had secretly packed our swimming gear in my dad’s bag while I was sleeping. When we started from our hotel, I thought that we were going somewhere for sightseeing as usual. Even when we got out from the metro, in the wildest of my thoughts, I knew that we were going in the park because the only thing ouside was the park. Plus, when we were walking past the sign my mom said, “Is’nt it here?” So when we were in the escalator to go down, my parents revealed the surprise, but I couldn’t believe it. Finally after my dad gave me a bunch of reasons, I believed him. After that I was so surprised and I hugged him like anything! It was because I had never been to a water park and this was my first time! To reach the water park, we took a bus. When we reached, I saw many slides around me. I can already feel an extra surge of excitement coming through my body. As soon as we finished changed to our swimming suits, I ran to the entrance and found a small waterfall. The only way is to enter is to pass through it.
When we entered the water park, all I could see was lots of slides around. Each of the rides had a funny name.
First, I decided to go to the “Lazy Cruise.” All I had to do was sit on a circular balloon loop called water tube and float away to the end. On the way, there were many tiny waterfalls that made my mom and me drenched by the time we reached the end of the pool.
Afterwards, I decided to try out the “Surf Striker,” which made me feel terrified indeed. When I got to the front, a guide taught me how to handle the harsh current of the water on the surfboard. When I was doing it, I found it to be very hard, and suddenly, I lost my grip and got thrown off from the water! There was a timer for 1 minute and by that time, it went off.
At the Surf Striker
Next, my mom and I went to a ride called “Cavern Chase.” When we reached, we found ourselves in a huge queue. But after some time, we reached the front of the queue, and they made us sit on a 4-seater round raft. As it was just the 2 of us, they made us sit opposite each other. The next thing I knew, we were in a dark tunnel, and my mom was screaming her head off until we landed in a pool after a minute or two!
After that ride, we went to the Big Wave Bay. It was basically a giant pool with a lot of waves, which meant that it was hard to put the water tube on. Once I finally got inside with my dad’s help, I felt like I was being swept by the waves! After some relaxing, I jumped out of the tube and rushed to the shore, and got my mom to get up to go to the next ride: Rainbow Rush.
At the Big Wave Bay
When it was finally our turn at the Rainbow Rush, we saw 8 tunnels, with these different colors: red, orange , yellow, green, blue, indigo, pink, and purple. I chose the pink one and my mom chose the purple one. As soon as I heard a buzzer, I jumped into the tunnel on a mat which was given to everyone. There was so many twists and finally I reached the sunlight, so I thought I reached the end but before I could even move, I was falling on a free drop! When I reached the actual end, I did not move for a few seconds in case there was another free fall. My mom was calling me which didn’t sound very far. Then when I got up, I told my mom that I wanted to go again because this was the best ride that I have been to so far! This time my mom let me go alone and I chose the purple one this time.
Sliding through the purple slide at Rainbow Rush
The next ride was called the Cyclone Spin. When we reached the top of the slide after waiting in a long queue, we settled down on a raft that had 2 seats. The ride was almost like the Cavern Chase, but it wasn’t that scary because my mom didn’t scream at all!
My dad said he wanted to go to a ride called Riptide, and judging from it’s name I thought it was a scary ride so I agreed, but when we reached, it was just a small pool and my dad said the next place I go to is going to be my last ride of the day, so I said I will go to another nice ride if it is my last ride. So my mom and I sat outside and waited for my dad to finish off with the Riptide. When he was done, we headed inside, hoping that there was an indoor ride that I could have missed, as it was very hot outside. Unfortunately, there was none, but when we saw the map, we saw one ride which made me make up my mind that I wanted to go there. The name of the ride was ‘Sky high Falls.‘ When we stood in the queue, we realized that it was a short one which was convenient. When we were settling on the circular raft, 3 more ladies were made to join us and we were surprised. But as the staff pushed the raft to the ride, we focused on the experience we were going to encounter. It was the best ride in the whole park! There were many tunnels, holes and free falls! Me and my mom were screaming our heads off! But the 3 ladies didn’t shout at all!
By the time we were done with all the rides, we were all hungry so we went to the restaurant outside. I ordered a burger for me and my mom to share, and my dad ordered rice with chicken curry. When I was finished eating, I asked my parents if I could go for a swim in the pool which was right next to us so they said yes. I only went for a few minutes because we had to go to other places in Hong Kong too….. but that’s another story! Like that, our wonderful experience in Ocean Park Water World ended. While we were walking towards the exit, I told my mom that I really wanted to time travel back to the time when we were standing in the queue for the first ride of the day.
Map of rides you may choose from based on the adventure categories
In my summer vacation, I am visiting my house in Kerala. In the summer, my parents, my uncle, and aunt decided to travel somewhere in India together. Eventually, we decided to travel to Darjeeling! On the first day of the trip, we took a taxi to a place called THE MALL ROAD (one of the major shopping spots in Darjeeling). On the way, we told the driver regarding our plan to go for the “Joyride”. The driver then said that there is a shortcut from the mall road where cars can’t go. Then, after some shopping, we headed for the joyride by means of a toy train by Darjeeling Himalayan Railways. For most of the time, the path we used to walk was very narrow, but we did not mind because the path was the shortcut. When we reached the railway, most of the rails were occupied with engine cars, and there was also a table turner which even my parents were seeing for the first time! Some rails were also occupied by passenger cars connected with engine cars.
Turntable to change the direction of locomotive engines
The driver is getting ready for the ride.Me in front of the joyride train.
After taking what seemed like hundreds of photos, I heard a very loud ‘ding dong’. At first, I didn’t understand what the sound meant, but when I saw a lot of people rushing to board the train, I realized that the sound meant the train was about to depart.
In the first few minutes, there were nothing to see outside until I noticed that we were going round and round. Totally confused, I asked my uncle why. Then he said, “We are going around in a famous place called the BATASIA LOOP!” He said it like it was such a special thing but I said, “Huh?” Afterwards I decided to google it up and I found out that it was built for trains to climb up the hilltop in a spiral way because it was steep. Anyways, I was super bored until we reached the hilltop which is a war memorial where the train stopped. Then the train assistant announced that we have to get back on the train after 15 minutes. From the moment I stepped out of the train, all I could see was several different types of flowers!! There were bunches of daisies, dandelions, roses, hydrangeas and many other flowers I’ve not seen before! That place was simply both magnificent and ultra beautiful! After taking lots of pictures, 15 minutes was up and we all hurried to board the train.
My Dad said that ideally, we could see the famous mountain, Kanchenjunga, from there, which is the 3rd largest mountain in the world. Unfortunately, we could not see it as it was very foggy. Finally, we headed back towards Darjeeling Himalayan Railways, from where we boarded, leaving the hilltop for other times to visit. When the train is moving, you can also see black smoke and white smoke shooting up separately! The whole experience is a 2-hour ride, and in my opinion, you may try it; at least it’s worth it. It was a good experience for me as it was my first time riding a steam and coal train.
Today we went to the Dublin zoo! To reach the zoo, we had to take a bus from where we are staying. After a few stops, I saw a sign board that said’DUBLIN ZOO’. As soon as I saw it, I called my parents and said, “We must get down here, this is our stop!” I think they got really comfortable sitting inside the bus because, my parents said that I am wrong and it should be the next stop. When we went outside at the next stop, my parents realized that I was correct because they didn’t see any Dublin zoo in the place. I know, it’s not good to scold our parents, but as the zoo was very far out, we cannot choose to walk because by the time we reach the zoo, we will be tired! So I was pretty disappointed, so out of frustration I scolded my parents! Still, my parents took it lightly and started teasing me! To get the same bus, we had to wait for about 20 minutes! Finally, the bus came and we boarded it again to get to the zoo entrance.
After taking the tickets, we went to the entrance gate. At the gate, on top of it, it said ‘ZOORASSIC TRAIL’ in very cool fonts. There were tiny plastic fires next to the writing, and the gate was made out of black stones. When I saw the gate, I imagined that it would be full of rides. So, as I love rides, I told my dad, “Let’s go there!”
Immediately after we got through the gates, I saw a huge T-rex! It looked so realistic with the wrinkles and moved back and forth and it even roared! On the way while walking, we saw many other realistic looking dinosaurs. After seeing lots of dinosaurs for a long time, my Dad asked, “Where are the real animals?” I said, ” I don’t know.” Suddenly my mom joined the conversation and said, “Look!” pointing at a board. “It said SEA LIONS! Yay!” I cheered. I was very excited to finally see a real animal in the zoo, although I didn’t know what sea lions were. When we reached the place where the Sea Lions were supposed to be, all we saw was a small pond and a shed next to it. For a moment, I didn’t understand what the shed was for. I was wondering until I saw a sea lion’s head poking from the water! Then, I understood what the shed was for. It was for looking under water to watch the Sea Lions through a glass wall. So, I told my parents, “Let’s go inside the shed!” Just as I reached the glass, I saw a sea lion swimming towards us! It was super huge and cute! It looked like seals and I wondered, “Are sea lions… same as seals?”. When the Sea Lion got very close to the glass wall, I took my camera to take a picture and a video. Sea lions look like seals but the difference between them is their ear structure. Sea lion’s ears are flappy ears while the seal’s ears are little holes on the sides of their head. Both seals and sea lions belong to the same family called PINNIPEDS (Of course, I googled to get this information).
Afterwards, we walked to the other fields. In the next place there was a huge compound with tall giraffes, white oryxes, rhinoceroses and zebras. All of the animals were roaming around, especially the giraffes, as they looked like they were posing for the cameras but when I tried to take a pic with my camera, the giraffe just put it’s head down! After taking lots of pictures, we headed towards the bats. To see the bats, we had to go to a dark room. To get used to the darkness, the caretaker told us to close our eyes for some time until we think we can see in the darkness. Since it was dark, we were not able to take any pictures. We had to wait for sometime to see the bat. It was because bats are shy. After some waiting, I finally spotted a bat flying around! The bat’s eyes were big and were almost bulging out of its sockets! After seeing the bats, we went ahead blindly because we didn’t know the way.
We walked and walked until we reached a cafe. In the cafe, my Dad bought a bottle of orange juice. While we were drinking, I noticed that there were different types of birds, including a colourful peacock that freely walked around other people for food.
After we left the cafe, we walked towards the penguins which my Dad said that he doesn’t want to see. Instead, he said that he will walk slowly to the exit and wait for us there. When me and my Mom went to the penguins, I was surprised that a penguin could live here in Ireland because I thought penguins only lived in Antarctica! By the time we reached the penguins, they just finished their swimming/bath inside a pool nearby. They also looked very cute, shaking off the water in their fur. After a while we decided to head back to the entrance where my Dad was waiting for us. While we were walking back, we saw my Dad still standing on the path, waiting for us! We thought he had already reached the exit a long time ago! I was happy that he waited for us so I ran to my dear Dad to hug him. In the whole experience, I was enjoying and excited about seeing every single animal. Some of them looked ugly, I must say, some looked scary and the rest looked very cute. By the time we left the zoo, I was very hungry so we had to go to the tearoom which was in a very beautiful location.
This is the last place I wanted to blog about my trip to Ireland. From the next blogs I write, you will read about a new place, in another country.
Today, my parents and I went to a place called MUCKROSS IRISH TRADITIONAL FARM!! The farm is in Killarney, Ireland. The farm makes us realize how hard-working people were in the past because there was no electric machinery, equipment, or appliances like we have now in the 21st century.
In the farm, there are places like Laborers’ Cottages, Blacksmith’s Forge, Schoolhouse, the Woodland Playarea, Animal farms e.t.c
At the desk where we buy tickets, my parents had confusion about whether we should go or not because they thought it was just another normal farm. I tried to convince them to go in. So FORTUNATELY, they agreed!!!! After my Dad paid for the tour, we walked to the minibus waiting stop from where we rode to the first stop, the SMALL SIZE FARM.
Once we reached the stop I found out that the place have a beautiful small white house. All of the window frames were painted in red color. It is a small, Irish styled house. As soon as we went inside, we saw an old grandma sitting on a small, wooden chair. We went to the other room inside and it is an old bedroom with bright white painted cobblestone walls, a small metal framed comfy looking bed, and also, a small statue of Jesus along with his picture in a dark wooden frame next to the window sill. There were other furniture such as a small fireplace with a small fire burning on some wood and charcoal, a traditional wooden dressing table, and a big bookshelf. When we came back to the main room, the grandma offered us some freshly baked bread and butter. As soon as it reached my taste buds, I was so surprised that an old grandma could bake such yummy bread and butter!
To reach the other stops we decided not to take the bus ride. So we walked for a bit and finally reached the second stop. Again, I found out that this stop was also a house but it was the worker’s residences. First, we explored the outside of the house. The house was white like the other one, but the window frames were painted in blue. On the other side of the house there was a cabbage farm and an apple tree. Next to the farm there were some pigs rolling in the mud so as I walked nearer, they were all super stinky! When we went inside the house, I saw a bedroom and a living space with a small fireplace again so there is nothing to describe much.
After a few more stops, we reached a place named LARGE FARM. There I saw JAUNTING CARS, goats, cows, sheep, one cute tiny kitten, and one new born piglet!! Next to the piglet, there was a small fire to make the piglet feel warm. All these animals were in their own fences in a shed. When I left the shed, I saw another pen next to the shed. Inside that, there were lots of hens and roosters. So I sat down on a bench nearby and watched the hens for a while. Until…..another huge brood of hen ran from the shed and behind them was a boy chasing them! What was more, a man tried to pull him out of the pen, but the boy kept on pulling back. After sometime the man managed to pull the boy out of the pen. We then went to a small pond nearby where the swans were. When we reached, the swans gave us a greeting by saying, “QUACK! QUACK!” After that, we walked to a woodland playground where I played a lot.
We went to our last stop, THE SCHOOLHOUSE. While we were walking to the schoolhouse, I thought that I could write with a feather. When we reached the schoolhouse, I found an old man talking with some people next to a large door. So we waited for sometime. After some minutes, the old man asked me if I want to learn. I said yes. He told me to sit on one the desks. The room had a very tall ceiling, a fireplace, a small blackboard and several large desks and benches. When I sat down, somebody called him and he had to rush out. We waited for sometime. But still, he did not come. So we decided to leave and started to walk back to the reception.
In the whole experience, I felt just a bit excited because all of the houses looked the same. But when we went to the Large Farm, I was really excited because I really love animals.
Today is a super duper fun day! Guess what? I went to a toy soldier factory called Prince August Toy Soldier Factory with my parents!!! The factory is in Killarney, Ireland. The route is very adventurous and your ears might close due to altitude difference as we were driving uphill. But that is the only fastest route to it!
In the factory, we saw many chess piece miniatures, guard miniatures and also cute miniatures of angels in cupboards. Chess piece miniatures were in the form of people(except the knights), all dressed up for a war. It was all simply wonderful to see.
We asked the staff about the toy making activity. But instead, they said that they will make the sculpture and I can only paint it. After I heard this, I was like WHAT!!! I was surprised, because I thought I could make the sculpture and also paint it all by myself. Without any choice, I decided to view the demonstration. While they were doing the demonstration, I understood why I can’t do it. It was because the process of making it was very dangerous because the metal was very, very hot!!!
HOW TO MAKE A TOY SCULPTURE!
MATERIALS: Mold, Boiled Solder Metal, Spoon, Boiler, Paint and a ribbon(any colour).
STEPS:
Boil some solder metal in the boiler for at least 5 minutes.
Next, take the mold of anything you want (I chose a mom rabbit holding her baby rabbit).
Then, take a spoon, take some boiled solder metal and pour it inside the mold for about 2 minutes.
After 2 minutes, open the mold cover and our sculpture is ready!!
Next, we take the sculpture out of the mold, cut off the unnecessary parts and put them back to the boiler.
Then, it’s painting time!!
When I went to sit on a chair, I saw many different metal paint colours. After I put a plastic apron on me, the staff told me to choose any colour for each part of the sculpture. While I was painting, I noticed that my Dad went to explore the other parts of the factory. After painting……TADA!!!!!!! IT’S READY!! Note:After painting each part of the sculpture, it’s best to dry it.Also, we have to have lots of patience and don’t be in a rush.The staff will come now and then to check how we are getting on.In the whole experience, I was very excited, so I didn’t have the patience to paint slowly.
Travel With Rithu 