johnmryan dot com » Travel

Malaysia

John — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:22:06 +0000

I hope to tweet (@johnmryan) my adventures in Malaysia, technology pending, so you can hopefully enjoy the trip with me!

Me in Malaysia (Kelantan) in 2007

I am off to Malaysia on Saturday, and I cannot wait. It is my first holiday this year, and my third time in Malaysia. Last year I travelled around to Thailand and Singapore. This year I hope to explore more of Malaysia, via rail and road. I will be meeting up with my Malay friends there (who lived here until the recession), so it should be an all round fun trip.

If anyone has been around Malaysia, feel free to let me know of any interesting places to visit via my twitter or comment below.

I am excited to have a (what I think is) a good camera this time to take some good shots. Last time I used my first generation iPhone for some awfully disappointing shots. I am realising now that you cannot capture the moment with any old camera.

I hope to also tweet, where possible (wifi/iphone pending) my trip, so that should be interesting if it works out.

Back to the grind

John — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:11:40 +0000

Been crazy busy since I came back from holidays but the photos are up on flickr so check them out.

Happenings on Irish Rail – Iarnród Éireann

John — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:39:25 +0000

Sorry for the lack of updates, but you can get tired with blogging at times. I am writing this on the train to Dublin, internet – curtsy of O2 Broadband, its holding up – maybe better than me. Irish Rail have been blowing some smoke lately about their new trains, while this one is very clean and new, it seems there has been no effort to work on the actual rail lines, as its bumpier than a teenagers face. That said, I usually drive, or take the bus if I have to, the train is so expensive, its not really worth it.

You have the usual passengers on this train, most notably is the Britney (yes I’ve named her) the girl who whats you to know how great she is, even though we are about 6 seats away the whole carriage knows she is a student, works weekends, has an order with amazon for college books, which she decided to have posted to her aunts house in Meath – even though she lives in Dublin – ‘ she was just was not thinking that day’ – apparently, she was also at a court case recently, not sure why, but apparently the judge warned her not to discuss this in public, when she meets a guy on a night out she does not give him her number but rather her brothers phone number, because when she tries to make up a fake phone number, she always ends up giving out the real number… She must be talking to a ghost however, I cant hear what the other person is saying, I can only assume her friend is speaking in a normal tone.

I’ve just been interrupted to ask if I want coffee- this is new, and not happened on any of my previous Limerick- Dublin trips – a nice touch – I assume its not included in the 45 euro ticket price.

One other thing, there is a woman singing a song, like to one you hear old people singing in those older type pubs where they play ‘45′ and drink sherry. She has stopped now, perhaps to sip her ‘coffee’. I spoke too soon, she is now singing again, but not alone this time – a gentleman has joined her to sing you ‘you will never defeat the IRA’ and ‘Billy don’t be a hero – come back to me’. I can only assume she is intoxicated, and hope she will soon drift off. One plus though it has stopped Britney from yapping her hole off.

We are now at Thurlas,and I love that the automated voice guy said it in Irish first.

Malaysia Photos

John — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:13:50 +0000

The Photos from my Trip to Malaysia are now online. You can view them on my site here and on my Flickr account here

Off to Malaysia

John — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:18:13 +0000

Im off on my holidays on what is to be my first trip to Asia – Malaysia to be exact. Photos and more when I get back…wish me luck…i’m going alone – but I am meeting some Malay friends at some stage Related posts:Malaysia Back to the grind Malaysia Photos Related posts:

RTE website – Hit or Miss?

John — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:22:59 +0000

The Irish Indo is reporting today that the new RTE website is a massive hit. And I have to admit, that yes, I do like it, I now find myself checking it daily for News and Business News, as well as the new TV Guide, and of course the Entertainment section (goes without saying). Impressively their list of online videos, including RTE News broadcasts, is becoming more extensive. I reported (well had a screen shot) of the site shortly after its launch here. Some people mailed me to say that theyÂ still don’t like it, but if the below figures are anything to go by, RTE are going something right.

THE redesign of RTE’s website has contributed to a massive 78pc increase in traffic, the station claimed yesterday. vFigures show 29 million page impressions registered for the month of February. This represents a lOpc rise on the previous month, and a 78pc increase year-onyear. Over 1.2 million “unique users’ are now accessing the site.

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My Photos of NYC

John — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:43:22 +0000

Much higher quality photos, and a nice few of them are all posted in the photo album here

New York New York So Good…

John — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 19:51:45 +0000

Rachel woke me this Morning about 1 pm, I was in bed of course, well it is Sunday. Then the sudden reality of the fact that in a few hours I would be on my way to New York! Time to get ready? nah! Ill leave that until a hour before I leave… maybe not. Of course Rachel has been up early, as she is a News Reader on a local Station, how mad is that, i’d better not say which one though. She’d probably kill me.

Anyway, theres lot’s to do in New York (Who knew?) But what im most looking forward to is the Statue (her self in the picture) of Liberty. And of course the Empire State Buliding. Should all be pretty mad. New York at night is supposed to be crazy! My kinda crazy too i’m told!

The Layout of the City has me confused a bit, but apparently it’s easy enough to follow! How much to tip 15-20% I hear for eating out… I suppose this really is a spur of the moment trip, but we did book it over a month or so ago. But it will be mad crack im sure. I hope to have lots of photos for my photo gallery. See you friday!