Dublin

Two weeks ago, I flew to Dublin with Ryanair and stayed there for 3 nights. My friend was kind enough to offer me accommodation so that was a great help to keep my budget in check. The first two days we spent most of the time walking around the city centre, especially on both sides of the Liffey River. Whenever I go to a new place, I always try to spot what is unique about the place or how it is different from other places. I have compiled my findings about Dublin as follows:

1. I personally find the city of Dublin less interesting than most other European cities. There are very few tourist attractions (with the exception of Guinness Storehouse). Even the Trinity College that Dublin boasts of is nothing more than a mini version of Oxford and Cambridge colleges.  The architecture is mostly unimpressive even when compared to that in London. That said, I did find some interesting buildings (among which include the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre). I will post their photos here soon when I could get my memory card to work.

2. The urban planning is rather unique, nonetheless. According to my friend, the government places a greater emphasis on the rural development. Unlike most developing countries where the cities eventually boom into metropolis and the rural areas remain unchanged, Dublin is probably on the opposite extreme. It is not surprising to find huge (in fact, overly huge!!) and fully stocked shopping malls in the outskirt of Dublin while those in the city hub suffer from a dire lack of stock. Also, the public transport in and around Dublin seems to be somewhat counter-intuitive. The shuttle buses to the rural areas are as frequent as the buses in the city centre, probably with the intention of providing equal welfare to the rural folks. But this means that most of the buses serving the outskirt are not sustainable and therefore need to rely on the revenue acquired from the central buses. It is no wonder that bus fares in the city centre are constantly on the rise. It is also very interesting to know that massive double-decker buses each carrying only 2 or 3 passengers from the outskirt are in fact one of the main contributors to the traffic jam in Dublin.

3. Like most cities, you can often find beggars gathering alms on the bridge, by the pavements, etc. But what made me shake my head in disbelief is the fact that all (not just a few, but ALL) the beggars I saw in Dublin were young healthy tetrapod individuals who even had the spare money for cigarettes. This may partly reflect the low employment rate of Dublin or simply reflect the attitude of the young Dubliners towards life. My friend suggests that it may be the former, as she revealed that Ireland is currently in a heavy debt owing to the recent intense development of the rural area. It is again, interesting to see how a nation's economic status can be so easily gauged from simple observation like the beggars.