Someone parked their cherry picker in the Monash University carpark. Monash Uni is full of vigilant park inspectors. I wonder if this picker would ever get a ticket?
Tag: photography
It’s us against them
I saw this on the way home.
Singapore, once in a lifetime
Last month, I had a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Singapore.
I’m sure I’ll go back to Singapore again but not in the same circumstances. You see, last month, six families converged onto Singapore from Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia and England. It was a reunion of my father, his brothers and sister and their families.
We departed from Singapore on a 14-storey cruise ship, going to Penang and Phuket. It was my first time on a cruise. I admit that I felt a bit trapped, despite the theatre, amusement centre, bar, club, bar, disco, eight restaurants, library, swimming pool, gym, spa, hairdresser, basketball court, driving range, putting course, table tennis area, giant chess boards, karaoke rooms, casino, movie theatre, two souvenir shops, ice cream parlour and sports pub.
However, I was soon satiated by food. Early breakfast at 6am, proper breakfast at 8am, morning tea at 10am, lunch at 12pm, afternoon tea at 4pm, dinner at 6pm, midnight snack at, well, midnight.
I gained a kilogram and an inch around the waist. It was totally worth it.
Assault on Conwy Castle
Joel and I spent the long Easter weekend in and around Snowdonia National Park in Wales. We climbed the icy Mt Snowdon, ate three course meals every day, drank mead and watched medieval sword fighting.
Castles were on the agenda, Wales being the ‘land of the castles’ with 400 within its borders. The most magnificent one we visited was Conwy Castle.
Joel is a keen rock climber. I could tell he was itching to scale the castle walls. He was always examining the stonework and looking up to plan his route.
Putting a face on the Gulf Oil Leak
The New York Times Lens Blog led me to startling photos of the environmental impact of the BP oil leak.
See more images at the The Big Picture on Boston.com.
Those charismatic megafuana are really getting it now 🙁
Marazion and the Mount
On the last day of our seaside ‘mini-break’, we visited the town of Marazion for fish and chips.
Marazion has something that I consider rare in the UK: a real sandy beach.
These kids were riding on a stream that emptied in the ocean. I was bit concerned. There was a distinct smell of sewage about that stream. Either the stream was fed by geologically active groundwaters (doubtful) or it was carrying the outflow of some kind of water treatment plant (more likely).
There must have once been volcanic activity in the area, though. There was slate and granite everywhere.
Besides fish and chips, the other reason we came to Marazion was to see St Michael’s Mount. The Mount is its own parish with residents. The population peaked at 300 in the 1800s. Its castle is the official residence of Lord St Levan. He doesn’t live there anymore but his nephew supposedly does.
When we arrived at the beach, we saw people being ferried to and from the island on small motorised boats.
Some, though, came in on their own paddle power.
Around half an hour after we arrived, I spotted someone in the water, seemingly wading towards St Michael’s Mount!
It turns out that there is a man made causeway to the Mount, which can be crossed at mid to low tide.
Soon there was a highway of foot traffic between Marazion and the Mount.
From Lizard to Mousehole
Winter is here, my ankles can feel it. To escape, I’ve been going through my photos from a summer weekend near Penzance in Cornwall. Yes, that’s Penzance of Pirates fame.
There were all kinds of fun names associated with our mini-break. We stayed at in a village called Lizard and visited Land’s End.
Our weekend home was Nanceglos House, which is a National Trust cottage. It was the old laundry serving Trengwainton House (home to rich folk).
Cottage implies a small and quaint farm house. Well, Nanceglos House sleeps nine people so I wouldn’t call it small!
It had its own well, which I’m guessing was very important for a laundry in the 18th century.
This beautiful living room was once the main laundry area. I wonder what it was like? Were there great vats of hot water and clothes? Were the workers constantly enveloped by steam?
It was a very tall space with wooden roof beams.
I love country kitchens! They make me want to cook (and eat). Damjan made a metre long pizza with onion confit. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.
Here are photos from the town of Penzance.
This is Jubilee Pool, safely buffered from the ocean.
The eateries reflect the seaside location.
We went on to a fishing village Mousehole (pronounced ‘Mowzel’), hoping for fish and chips. In the end, we saved our weekend fish-and-chip quota for the next day.
The Mousehole harbour was clearly an attractive swimming spot for kids. The massive wooden gates at the head of the harbour were almost closed so the water was very calm.
These kids were watching the others swimming. If you look carefully, you can see a wire cross on the rocky island to the left. At Christmas time, Cornwall residents and visitors converge on Mousehole to see its Christmas lights. Maybe that cross is part of the annual illuminations.
The keys to my love are on a mountain
When I was at Mount E’mei in my visit to China in September, I was drawn to the locks attached to the railings.
Lovers come to Mount E’mei, place a lock on the a chain (or another lock, as all chain links are now well and truly colonised).
They then throw the key off the side of the mountain.
There really are thousands and thousands of locks. They climbed with us up the steps to the top of the mountain.
My love is made eternal with extra top security.
I thought the locks were beautiful.
Motherland
This week, I came back from two weeks in Hong Kong and China. My parents flew up from Melbourne to meet me for my first visit to the motherland.
We spent a week in the Sichuan province of China, visiting three of the six UNESCO world heritage sites in the province. One day, I will visit Beijing and Shanghai but on this trip, I saw China’s beautiful natural side.
Pearl Shoal Waterfall at Jiuzhaigou Valley.
A lake at Jiuzhaigou Valley. These lakes are amazing — they are crystal clear, even when the water is deep.
Tibetan flags at Juizhaigou Valley. About 1000 people live in the valley and most are Tibetan.
I paid 10 RMB (AUD1.70, £0.90) to dress up in traditional Tibetan dress.
Red panda at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. I used to think that red pandas were the plain cousin of black-and-white pandas. Now that I’ve seen them in person, I can assure you that they are very cute as well.
Pandas fighting — they don’t do kung fu, it’s more like basic whacking and thumping.
‘Get off me, you bully!’
We also saw baby pandas (one and three month old). The three month old panda was so cute, like a yawning flailing stuffed toy. The one month old panda was also cute, like a furry worm. We couldn’t take photos in the panda nursery.
At the sacred Buddhist mountain, Mount E’mei.
Incence at Mount E’mei.
China is full of bad English translations. I don’t know why. Even at our four and five star hotels and at UNESCO sites, it is clear that no one has employed the services of a fluent English speaker. I think this sign should say something like: ‘Value your life. Please do not climb over.’
Jinli Street in Chengdu has been an important market street for more than 2200 years. It was renovated a few years ago and is truly beautiful, everything stereotypically Chinese — except the prices, which have the stereotypical tourist premium. It is also uncharacteristically shiny and clean. Tourists flock here and are fleeced by pickpockets.
Puppets on Jinli Street.
At the end of Jinli Street, we watched Sichuan opera. This included the famous magic mask act, where the performers make lightning fast mask changes. The mask master was shaking my hand when he twitched and was suddenly wearing a different mask. I was astonished. I didn’t see it happen and he had been right in front of me.
Summer holidays
I’ve been in Serbia for the past 10 days.
I flew back and got home at 6pm. Tomorrow morning, I am flying out to Hong Kong for work, then China for fun. I’ll be back in two weeks.