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Ireland trip – the leisure part
Disclosure : this entry are taken from Nuniek’s blog
Never had I ever imagine that our initiative to gather people in Indonesia startup industry -which later named as #Startuplokal community- gives us a chance to see closer startup industry in other part of the world: Ireland. Thanks to Enterprise Ireland for making it happen; fully sponsoring us as Indonesia Delegation for Dublin. Special thanks to Patrick O’Riordan for his persistence will to meet Natali Ardianto after reading about him in Globe Asia magazine! ^.^
Our trip from 9-17 March 2011 was unforgettable. For four of us, it was our first trip to Europe, and we’re happy to have that first experience together. Not to mention the precious challenge to get to know people in Ireland’s startup industry, institutes, incubators, and learn all the best from them. I divide this writing about Ireland Trip into The Leisure Part and The Business Part (which I’m sure will be useful for my #StartupLokal friends)
Our journey started on 9 March 18:35 at Soekarno Hatta Jakarta Airport. We took KLM, a Boeing 747 which has 10 seats in a row, and TV with wide selection of movies. I chose Burlesque and quite entertained by the music & dance performance. Our flight transit in Kuala Lumpur for 30 minutes before departing to Amsterdam at 21:00 local time. This time I watched Moulin Rouge, the famous movie I’ve never seen before =p At 06am local time we arrived in Schipol Airport Amsterdam, transit for about 5 hours. We had lots of time to see around, how the airport has many great facilities such as comfortable library, kids playground, free usage of ipad with comfy couch potato, etc. And of course we did some shopping too =D
On 10 March afternoon local time we arrived in Dublin. A freezing wind welcome us when we were waiting for bus to take us to city center, we were like shocked to feel 5 degree celcius tempereature. We feel warm soon as we arrived in Harcourt Hotel, Suite 111 with 3 single beds & 1 double bed. Very nice place, homy yet classy, strategic in mid of town, and best price too! Our first dinner in Dublin was in a city resto named Red Basket which cost all of us €47, quite expensive compared to other fastfood resto.
On 11 March after having breakfast in hotel, we spent the day with citytour: to city park with beautiful lake, tree & birds; Trinity College which has the biggest library (where Da Vinci Code movie took place); hopped on a bus that took us all around the city; then shopping in Carol’s and bookstore with less than €3 all items! I found great books for my kids which is expensive in Jakarta. At night we had dinner in another fastfood resto near hotel. Every corner of Dublin is a perfect object for taking pics, amazing!
Saturday 12 March was so sunny, a perfect day to go to another park. There are many beautiful park in this town. After that we went to National Museum, National Library, Oscar park, and down to Grafton Street where many street artists & musicians performed. At around 3pm we moved to Clontarf Castle Hotel where Enterprise Ireland has booked for us. Since it’s located near beach, we walked down thru the cold weather just to see the invisible sunset. At night, Mr. Patrick O’Riordan from Enterprise Ireland & Shirley from Globe Asia joined us in hotel and took us to dinner in local pub & resto which used to be an old train station. The food was so delicious, especially the mussels!
On Sunday 13 March a Paddy Wagon was ready at 9:30am booked exclusively for our trip to Wicklow, a beautiful place upside the hill. There’s a Guinness river which has reddish black water stream surrounded by farmville with many sheeps around. So lovely! It’s similar to Puncak in West Java, Indonesia but Wicklow is sooo much more amazing with dramatical romantic view. There are lots of beautiful places to take pics, pushing aside the moody weather and freezing wind in -2°C. We had a cup of tea/coffee in small local coffee shop, and dinner in seafood restaurant, probably the best in town according to Pat. At night we continue our conversation in hotel’s café where Pak Bernard from HDA joined us.
Monday 14 March was a full day of business in Enterprise Ireland Headquarter. We met many key persons in startup & digital industry in Ireland and exchange a lot of useful information. In total there were 6 (six) formal appointments in a day and all the activities were recorded by video camera for internal documentation. Pak Bernard and Natali were also recorded to be on air for local famous radio station at prime time! One thing that we missed that day was to give souvenirs from Indonesia to Mr. Kevin Sherry and Mr. John Convery as the host. We already brought it but totally forgot to give it =(
After the meeting, we had dinner in Chameleon, an Indonesian Restaurant in Temple Bar area. Edel O’Dwyer from Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Claire Kilroy -a young Irish author, and Abdul –an Indonesian studying in Dublin, joined us there. The restaurant founded in 1994 served various Indonesian food with unique taste. We had opor, satay, various sambals, acar, perkedel, nasi goreng, udang asam manis, and many more! The night still young, we go on to local bar for another pints of Guinness. After an hour chit chat, we went back to hotel and still continue the chat in hotel’s bar because Shirley had to interview all of us and submit the writing in the morning. Pak Bernie treat all of us a drink, and oh gosh the Bailey there was sooo good! I think it’s the cream that makes it different, so fresh.
Tuesday 15 March the “unyu” Phillip Watson from Enterprise Ireland assisted us a whole day since Patrick had to leave early in the morning for another important meeting in other part of the world. We went to IT Tallaght Dublin, NovaUCD, and The Digital Hub to see their startups incubator ambience, and how it opens our eyes of what the real incubator is. At 4:30 we moved on to entertainment part: going to the famous Guinness Storehouse and visiting the world famous Gravity Bar, where we can enjoy our pint of Guinness while taking in the panoramic 360° views of Dublin city and beyond. Sláinte!
Moved on to The Brazen Head where we had delicious traditional Irish food for dinner. Again, the mussels were excellent, and the sausages were yummy. Mrs. Miriam from Career Decisions Ireland joined us and excited to visit Jakarta this April. Can’t wait to welcome her in our hectic city!
Wednesday 16 March, our last day in Ireland. Abdul and his roommate Bruce were very kind to take us around the city. We went to Google office and took some snaps, then to the newly opened Facebook office but we were not allowed to take a pic inside with the logo =( Then we had lunch in the oldest & most famous traditional Irish pub Johnnie Fox established in 1798. This place is gorgeous with its preserved antiques and uniqueness. The lamb shank, duck, and mussels was super delicious but the fish plate was too spicy for me. We continued exploring the city back to Grafton because our friend asked for a Guinness hat and Ollie want to go back to Trinity College library. Grafton area was sooo hectic that day preparing Ireland’s national day: St. Patrick’s day on 17 March. Too bad we had to miss it.
Back to Clontarf Castle Hotel to take our luggage and say good bye to Abdul & Bruce and going to airport by van taxi. So sad to leave this beautiful country with world class hospitality. I am surely gonna miss it and willing to go back there again one day.
PS : On our way home, we transit in Paris and I promised myself to visit the city to kill my curiosity =p
Full photos are available here :
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