Tag: Holiday

  • Kyoto Family Fun


    Kyoto map – one of several we wore out on our trip round in the humidity!

    It’s been almost a week since I got back from Kyoto. I think Mum & Dad should have finished their amazing hiking expedition through the Japanese Alps, but in the meantime I have sorted out the photos from our trip to Japan’s old capital. It was strange in a way to meet them in such an alien place, but at the same time the most natural thing in the world. Where next time, folks? 🙂

    I have this suspicion that many of the photos I took this time round are exact facsimiles of my previous trip … but it’s nice to know nothing too much changes!


    Hi Mum & Dad!


    Dad against an orange background


    Concrete background against an orange sock foreground

    One of the great pleasures of the weekend was of course the food. I think the best meal of the weekend was in Pontocho – the old red light district. Door after door of intimidating, foreboding restaurants and clubs, menus with unrecognisable characters (or indeed no menus at all), and a sense that this place was ‘not for us’. How delightful it was then to penetrate the darkness, pop our head round the door, and be welcomed in, to the point of the head chef wanting his photo taken with us as we left? Marvellous.


    Ingredients on display – and all through the restaurant too. Very nice idea.


    He was tickled pink!

    Having been to Kyoto before and seen the major attractions, I fancied getting out north on the train on the second day. Recommendations of Kurama and Kibune from a friend had us hiking up into the hills in the sweaty heat, after a pleasant train ride up into the northern hills. While I didn’t get any mountain biking in this weekend I certainly managed to get a sweat up hiking instead.


    Quite a narrow platform


    Delightful controls … and an even more delightful train driver that was running up and down the platform in exactly the same way as British train drivers don’t.


    Letting the world slide by


    Goofy masks on sale


    Dragons in the forest


    Simple folded paper makes for a striking effect


    Resting in one of the many small temples punctuating the hot path up the hills – and thankfully they all had little cool springs to splash water on the wrists and face.


    Roots Manuva – reminds me of mountain biking in Taiwan



    Now I just need to add Dad’s photo, and I think we achieve infinite regression!


    A well-deserved lunch


    Views through the trees on the way back to the train


    Is everything in Japan personified? Am I the only one to see faces in everything?


    Lost in Translation


    Bird on a Wire


    After an evening of showing the Pachinko halls and playing drumming games, a quite ice cream perched on a curb seemed just right.

    Day two in the city, and we went to check out one or two of the temples that I had not yet seen. The main one was ‘The Golden Pavilion’, and the name pretty much describes what it is. Mainly though, bus loads of tourists taking gigabytes and gigabytes of the same photos on a very managed tour of the grounds.

    Although we didn’t know it when we booked, it was one of the major religious festivals of the year, so there was more activity in the temples and shrines than perhaps there usually was.


    The Golden Pavilion. Imperial era ‘Bling’


    Phoenix Rising


    Fabric covering the doors of the ceremonies


    Escape


    Waiting

    The major treat of the weekend was the annual ‘Gozan’ fire festival. Huge depictions of Chinese characters are burnt on the surrounding hills of Kyoto to help guide the spirits up to heaven (I think). It made for a really rather amazing evening, but something that cameras could not really capture, sitting on the roof of the hotel. Here is one of the ‘Daimonji’ being set up for the evening as we left the Golden pavilion.


    Burn baby burn


    Inevitable photos of vending machines


    Reflecting on things before heading into one of the Zen temples


    Mum & Dad!


    Pooh Sticks


    At the Zen temple – even the slippers are nicely arranged.


    Some textures, just to keep Michael and Markus happy


    Almost positive I took these photos last time


    Scale model of the garden itself


    Interesting to see them managing the trees for the amount of light coming through … everything is under control, even though it looks effortless and natural.


    Dad looks pensive


    Getting some ideas for our own garden?


    I think these banisters were being repaired when I was here last time – picture below … what have I become?! Discussing banisters?!


    Hard at work, a year and a half earlier


    Grabbing some dinner (with an English menu, no less!) before heading up to the roof and the fire festival


    It was like a Kimono parade – feast for the eyes and camera. I suppose it is like tourists going to Scotland and being fascinated by the Kilts. What seems normal for them (and the Scots) is rather exotic for us.


    Shoes.


    I did take a big pile of photos of the burning characters in the hills, but they were all small, shaky and rubbish – much better to check the link here for their photos of the Gozan fire festival.


    The last day, and Mum goes off to buy a camera


    Camera graveyard of junk outside one of the shops … some classics and almost new stuff in there!


    And something for me – buying a knife from a shop that has been making them for 500 years. What a pleasure!


    Taking the long route to the station, via the river …


    Checking the time – it’s always difficult to say goodbye. Even thinking about it now makes me 🙁

    Great to see you guys – and looking forward to seeing the photos of your second leg!

  • Osaka Return

    Just sitting in the departure lounge for NW69 back to Taipei,after a
    superb long weekend in Kyoto with the folks. Although I have been
    there before, it’s nice to fill in a few blanks and see some things
    from a different angle.

    Presently, tapping away on my iPod’s wifi, writing a few e-mails and
    chatting with Steve on MSN. The future is slowly arriving.

  • Kyoto Family Meet Up

    Off to Japan for a long weekend to meet up with my folks who are walking in the Japanese Alps for a couple of weeks – how jealous am I?!  They elected to not come to Taiwan this time, but I did not have to have my arm twisted too hard to meet them in Japan.
    It’s my second trip to Kyoto, and my fourth to Japan, but this time should be extra special, with the fire Gonzo (or something) festival igniting the hills, and from what I understand all the women running around in Kimonos.
    My word – it’s been a busy couple of weeks at work – but got some good results out and I am looking forward to seeing them develop in the coming months.
    But for now … time for boarding.
  • Bali Rewind


    View Larger Map (me playing with maps as a header – how would it look at the top of the page, I wonder?)

    It’s a few weeks late, I know, but I thought I would never the less get down to writing a few words about Bali in Indonesia.

    This was the holiday that was in my targets for a very long time, and nothing was going to stop me going over there and maximising on my first two week holiday (outside of the UK) in a long time. All in all, it totally exceeded my expectations – I expected a Thao-style holiday island, but it blew me away with its multi-layered culture and religion, soaring mountain peaks, perfect waves and fantastic, fantastic food.


    Villa Klarissa, where I was able to splish into the pool as soon as I woke up. Yum!


    My sunset account is certainly in the red

    I packed my bike, flip flops and a couple of books, and let the rest look after itself. Fortunately, I was lucky enough that Rich from Taiwan moved there six months ago or so, so I was exceedingly well set up with awesome places to stay and a group of people to guide me around the back lanes – of which there were many.

    The highlight of the fortnight with Rich was stepping out for a three-day road trip around the volcanoes and lakes of the island – really very special. And this is where I turned 29 years old – staying by a lake in the centre of a volcano.


    Chips


    Chips (at 2000m wrapped up a bit warmer)


    Refuelling … chip oil?

    The island of Bali is a lush paradise. The abundance of rich, arable soil and temperate climate creates an economy that can afford to support a lavish offshoot of Hinduism, which effectively every house on the island integrates a temple. The local ‘Animism’ worships every object, so there were some pretty esoteric places of worship – I even heard of places to respect the gods of television, though this may be purely anecdotal. None the less, climbing up into the clouds, I was never anything less than impressed by the amount of effort put into their built environment.

    When stepping into the foreigner-dominated areas to the south, this care and attention on the one hand is lost, but on the other hand there is the ‘Bali Style’ architecture found in the villas, hotels and restaurants that are mimicked around the world.


    One of the many gods.


    … and one of the many, many temples.


    Rich looking cheeky.


    One of the members of the local Bintang population that we did a fairly good job of trying to eradicate.


    Sunrise over the lake… and I need to clean my lens.


    Photo of a volcano, in lake, in a volcano. This is cool.


    SLIGHT ADVENTURE – that’s exactly what I got!

  • Shanghai Rendez-Vous

    In the spirit of big surprises, it was only fair to jet into Shanghai to see Anke & Lars off before they head back to Germany to pop a sprog. So, an entirely self-indulgent choice for an expensive weekend that was worth every penny to see these guys in their natural setting.

    Michael & Tanja had flown in from Singapore also for a nice weekend and we had just about managed to persuade A&L; that there not going to be any surprises, when I turned up at her door, loaded down with luggage bulging with Taiwanese bullshit that would surely set off multiple airport alarms if only they knew.


    Street racing in Shanghai

    The weekend was structured as a series of alcohol-fueled toboggan rides around the city, punctuated by extended periods of indulgent massage, good food and generally tuning back into the experiences we all shared in Taiwan together – which took all of 3 seconds.


    Taxi rage

    Shanghai is not the most walkable city, so taxi rides in all directions are necessary if you hope to actually get anywhere. The drivers in Taiwan and China do share a certain love of attempting to scare their passengers at every opportunity – usually by jumping red lights or feigning swerves towards static objects or oncoming lorries.

    Where they diverge is in their respective communication and friendliness towards their clients – Taiwanese cabbies are a friendly bunch, and the diametric opposite of their colleagues across the water who verbally maul their passengers. In our case we can hardly blame them – we told him to ‘follow that cab’ that contained the lead group and was piloted by the Chinese Fernando Alonso. Particular skills were displayed in lane changing, cornering, and sudden braking. He also had no clue he was being followed, and knew only that he was in a rush to a vague destination. Our driver, on the hand, knew full well that the only person with the address was in the front car, and he desperately tried to keep up, until he exploded with rage, pulling alongside the other car and battering expletives to the bemused driver, all accompanied by a background soundtrack of snorting belly laughter and the flashing of cameras recording the event.


    Hangover cure no. 163 – great food at a cute little Italian restaurant


    Nice doorways in the area that is being saved, reclaimed and protected by the local design industry – much to the bemusement of the locals who would probably prefer a new shiny apartment building.

    Inevitably, with Anke and Lars and a farewell party, a trip to a hot spring was in order for the afternoon. Now, I am usually (and perhaps slightly inexplicably) slightly ambivalent about these places, but I knew we had our heads screwed on when I saw the neon rising above the skyline. Think Club Med for Chinese people, combined with the very worst neo-classic Gothic / Greek / Holiday Inn architecture, and several thousand locals running around in ridiculous day-glo pyjamas. Welcome to Shanghai, traveler.


    The boys are back in town (but sadly missing Markus, although we all spent the entire time terrified that he would storm in on us … especially while sitting butt naked in the sauna!)


    “I would like to add one thing”


    I can see you!


    Happily detoxed, I was happy to see that retoxing services were also available inside the premises.

    Luckily, Gerhard and Klara had planned a big house party in his place for the middle of the weekend, and in full Easter theme, they had dressed up as rabbit and chicken. As the alcohol flowed, the costume somehow managed to migrate its way round the party, inevitably ending up with Michaell Lars and I, and predictably howling laughter from the ladies.


    The Easter Bunny


    Das Rabbit


    Abused animals

    Luckily, the guys had planned a final Oesterbrucker (or however it is spelled) and this capped off a really great weekend of good food and good people and bad alcohol (I can still taste the Jagermeister, Gerhard). With any luck I should be able to pop in to see the guys again while on business in a week or two, and of course I am sure to see M&T; before too long in Singapore. But what a weekend.


    Preparations


    View from their apartment down to the boats chugging by below.


    Team Taipei (minus Markus) in full effect … with ‘Made in Taiwan shirts that I believe everyone will cherish for eternity.

  • Thailand – Changmai


    Bangkok’s new airport, named Suvarnabhumi – try telling a taxi driver that. Heavy on the tensile fabrics, but quite impressive in scale.

    Last week was Lunar New Year, so along with much of the foreign contingent in Taiwan, jetted off to warmer climes. Sadly, one of the things I seemed to bring back was an violent aversion to eating, and I have spent the last day wrapped up with a belly that feels like it is on a spin cycle.

    No matter. The holiday was fantastic. I plumped for a trip up to the north Thai city of Chang Mai, for no reason except to provide some symmetry to my trip to the south of Thailand a couple of years ago – was it really that long ago?


    View Larger Map

    I only had about five days to play with this time around, so I opted to divide it up a bit between doing sweet eff-eh, seeing the touristy sights, and getting into the hills for some hikin’ and biking’ action. It’s always a tough balance, but I think I managed it, as I hope you can judge from the piccies below. Enjoy! I did.


    None of the fans were running in the temples, indicating that the weather was, unlike Taipei, bang-on PERFECT. Cool – but sunny.


    Views


    Renovation work


    Adopt a tile


    A rather gorgeous effigy coated in gold leaf and looking luxurious in the sunlight.


    The awesome night markets – where I happened to bump into some of the senior guys from 3 and Orange cell phones in London. Ate on a curb, brainstorming interactions over street beer and kebabs. As it should be.


    The food was superb. Mum & Dad – some here!


    In the heart of the market – and continuously in peoples’ way!


    Words fail to describe how deliciously unhealthy a Roti (kind of a double fried pancake in butter) with Banana can taste after a night out on the tiles / bean bags.


    Visiting a Teak carver (but not buying anything, for fear of chopping down more Burmese rainforests), I watched a plaque take shape – apparently, a 100x50cm piece could take 60 days to complete!


    The silk factory was my favourite – I have never seen silk worms ‘in action’ and it was pretty amazing to see the stages of development, and then how they actually extract the thread – or rather, just unravel the cocoon… the pupae inside left afterwards was kind of horrid, though.


    Seconds out…


    I went and did the obligatory Muay Thai boxing, which starts with wee nippers, before progressing onto the heavier, cooler categories.


    There were knock-outs, but the most blood thirsty people in the audience proved to be a row of very innocent looking foreign girls – quite surreal to watch with a sound track of “kill ‘im! … yeahhhh! … phwoarrr!”


    K.O. !!!


    Ring side


    Expectation


    Commentating


    And the house band.


    Flight of the moth.


    The route home – racing in a ‘Tuk Tuk’ (motorised rickshaw)


    Zoom zoom


    Tuk Tuk heroics

    And into the hills the intrepid traveler climbed…


    Got my shot of mountain biking, which was three hours of pretty fab downhilling, but on a rig that I would barely want to ride down the shops on.


    My ride for the day – it didn’t matter too much though, as descending along singletrack bamboo forest was pretty spectacular … although it all could have gone horribly wrong – I had a puncture and the well organised mechanical team did not have a working pump between them.


    And the next day, just to prove how healthy I am, a 7 hour hike through some pretty stunning scenery.


    Hill tribe kids playing


    A real life bat cave! – what you cannot appreciate in the movies is how much they stink of bat pooh.


    Nice footrub after the hiking … and then up to the rooftop bar for some beer

  • Cambridge, Cardiff and Family


    Little Red Riding Hoods – my jacket is red too! Ele – sort it out!

    I am getting harassed by my sister to upload some pics of the Christmas holidays, so here I am, catching up with a few of the events from the last few weeks back home.

    It sort of feels like a long time ago… but one thing is for sure; I am starting this year with a better mood than when I went home. The effects of seeing good friends and family. And I’ll be back for your wedding sis!

    Cambridge


    The new ‘Guided Bus’ lane near my house that replaces the railway track, and is 15 years in the planning.


    Say Treeees.


    Are you going to pour it, or take photos of it?


    The view from my bed since I was about 8 years old


    The laaaaads!

    Wales:


    My Favourite Granny and I pose with the ‘Deng Long’ that I sent her from Tainan.


    Granny does her stand-up act


    Moi?


    My cousin Cerys!! Cute!


    Walking in Wales


    Surveying the scene, before a thick blanket of fog descends


    … and at the top of the hill, on the way back, after the fog lifted!

  • Travel

    Well, here I am in Hong Kong airport, on my way to Shanghai. I am coming over at the last minute to kick off one of my projects. In typical DEM style, schedules were changing by the minute right up until I left work yesterday, as we juggled schedules from people flying in from all over Asia. Quite a feat.

    And here I am, waiting for four hours in arrivals, waiting for the Visa to be processed. I can’t really go anywhere as they have my passport, and all the fun stuff is really in departures. One bright light is the fact that Cathay Pacific have (cynically) offered me free membership to their ‘Marco Polo’ business club, and with the Silver card have access to all the lounges and cool stuff I have for so long been denied access to. Finally! Of course, it coincides with my almost having enough air miles for a return trip to London, so it is a sweetener to make me stay loyal, obviously, before I splurge it all on going home. But, the quicker check-in, extra 10kg and sense of elitist satisfaction I have more than makes it worth it!

    Next stop Shanghai … there for two days on business, then a weekend of fun with Anke & Lars … and who knows, I might be in Korea and Beijing next weekend. It’s all to play for!

  • Singapore – Wonderful Lies

    It’s been a week and half since I got back from Singapore, and I can almost certainly say that never in my life have so many things happened in the space of twenty four hours. It was a delight to see how much effort we all put into our time together, combined with levels of sneakiness and gullibility that I suppose only happens when you are good friends.

    The foundation to the weekend was to fly to Singapore to scare the shit out of Markus, who had left Taipei a week before. Personally speaking, I would have been more than happy to shock the crap out of him, have a few beers with the guys for the last time and turn round and go back to Taiwan again. Things began to escalate in the most delightful way when Anke and Lars announced that they were jumping on a plane from Shanghai to reunite the Asus team once more, complete.

    And this is how things started. I landed, waited out the back of their house and stormed the place armed with digital camera to catch Markus’ face (which more or less maintained the same expression for the rest of the weekend) and record the incredible intake of breath when I barged through the back door; I believe Tanja was spinning a tale of a local Chinese man who enjoys running around naked, so Markus was obviously on guard.

    We looked after ourselves, to an extent, and went to bed. Team Shanghai arrived at early doors, and they grabbed a couple of hours in the front room. A huge breakfast was prepared, and once again they waited out the back. Markus had asked, rather wistfully, whether Anke & Lars would be coming, so when they too came smashing through the door Markus was clearly quite moved.


    Anke & Lars wait out the back with a well deserved mug of latte


    Breakfast together!

    And such the weekend began, celebrating Markus leaving the island… and it is at this point that the ulterior plans of the weekend began to unveil.

    Now, we were told to dress smart and hand over our passports. We were not sure if we were heading to Indonesia or Malaysia, but this seemed fairly plausible. The flowers that arrived too, seemed perfectly logical. It was Deepavali in Singapore at the time (the loudest festival in Asia), so flowers were everywhere. And when we arrived at the harbour for our awaiting boat, still nobody asked too many questions (except Lars, who was complaining that Michael had truly become Singaporean, in finally ordering a tour guide).


    “Passports please!”

    Off we launched, beers in hand and the wind in our hair. We plotted a course through supertankers and fishing boats until we were almost at ‘Sisters Island’ and the destination for our picnic. Michael, who had been rather quiet for a few minutes, chose this moment to stand up and make his own announcement – that Tanja and he planned to be married, and the tour guide was in fact the solemniser, and ‘why did he need our passports?’… because we were witnesses! The truth reveals itself!

    Several minutes of wide eyed, wide mouthed wide eveything’d shouting, laughing, kissing hugging, photographing and staring in disbelief elapsed before, upon a small swell Tanja and Michael wed. It really was the most marvelous moment in time, and I am still in awe of the level of planning (and deceit) necessary in bringing us all together.

    Markus, who had arrived in Singapore expecting a quiet weekend of dining and relaxation, carried an expression on his face of shock and awe… someone, well, that expected a weekend of relaxation and instead got an international goodbye party, combined with wedding, punctuated with LIES, wonderful wonderful lies.

    We spent a happy afternoon, on an island shared with some crabby French expats and crabbier Monkeys, sipping champagne, splishing and splashing in the sea and generally feeling rather lucky that we were here together on the beach… in Singapore.

    Photos and word cannot do this justice. Amazing.


    Eye of the tiger


    Anke, as always, entertained by me


    The screaming begins!


    Mr. Handsome


    Mr. & Mrs. Held!


    Yay!


    Markus looks on, knowing he has some unexpected surprises when he gets married!


    Anke is radiant!


    Coupling


    We manage to surround the island and invade!


    Timeless


    Markus and I run into the sunset together


    We play some games with the 2 second timer on the camera


    JUMP!


    Have a nice day!


    Band of Brothers


    The sun sets


    Time for bed … and the surprises for Markus do not stop!

    Some more links:

    My web gallery:

    Michael & Tanja’s Blog
    Their Flickr stream

  • Mr. & Mrs. Held

    I just returned from a weekend in Singapore visiting Michael & Tanja, and scaring the wits out of Markus. It was just about the most amazing weekend ever, and requires a separate post, though I really have no idea how I am going to write it – it was really quite unbelievable.

    The only thing to say right now is; “Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs’ Held!”

    … and thanks for including me in one of the best weekends I can imagine!


    Tanja & Michael on the boat getting married … surrounded by Supertankers in Singapore harbour!