Andy Oakley

Last Friday afternoon Amy and I traveled to Trinidad, California to spend the weekend with family in the town where they’ve been enjoying summers for many years.

A haven for fishing (still no success for Andy on that front), plenty of live music and dancing, and with a generous dose of small town USA, it was an enjoyable trip.

Unknown size: square.

Last weekend we traveled to Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province and site of more than five thousand years of history.

We left Beijing by train after work on Friday. After a hotfish meal in the station diner, we boarded at 9pm, slept overnight and rolled in to Xian at 8am the following morning. Each cabin slept four and were clean and comfortable and it was only marginally odd sleeping next to complete strangers.

We were met at the station by our young friendly local guide, ‘Hank’, and after a brief detour by the hotel, headed to the East Gate of the City Wall. Renting a rather small tandem bike for just 40 RMB we toured the 9 mile perimeter of the city on top of the wall.

We finished in time to make it to the Musical Fountain in front of the Wild Goose Pagoda just in time for the noon performance which was well attended by the local population.

We filled the afternoon touring some of the historic sites including the pagoda, mosque and markets. After dinner we wandered through one of the parks between the city wall and the defensive moat to find people practicing tai chi, exercising, and listening to musical performances.

During a brief late evening stroll to the Bell Tower, the city was still alive with traffic, street vendors selling art, and people flying their kites into the black night sky.

Sunday morning we first went to the Shaanxi History Museum which told the story of many thousands of years of history focused on the area. It painted a picture of the changing fortunes over the centuries with prosperity in peace, conflict in war, and innovation and advancement in many areas long before the west.

Before heading to the airport, we spent the afternoon at the place Xian is now most famous for: the Terracotta Army (bingma yong). Built in the time of the Qin Dynasty (210 BC) the vast underground pits full of life-size, individually built, warriors statues lay forgotten until 1974 when accidentally discovered by a local farmer. The site is impressive both for the scale and detail in its initial creation and now with the painstaking effort to restore it.

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From Yangshuo we headed to Hong Kong for a few days to collect a new visa and explore a new city. Hong Kong is a fascinating place and felt very different from Beijing. For me it felt like a pretty accurate representation of what you’d get if you combined New York City and London into one. New York City with the smaller streets, high density of living and commerce and lots of activity. London for the road signs, driving on the left, subway station decor (you could easily be on the tube), accents, and familiar brands.

The speed of life seems much faster, with a richer mix of different cultures and languages.

The food was consistently excellent everywhere we ate and it was a real treat to have no language challenges when ordering meals.

Land is in short supply and the density of tall, skinny buildings is impressive, especially when they sit bolted on to the very steep hillsides. The rare pieces of land that are spared from development really make the contrast in land use evident.

There was a difference between the time spent in Kowloon (on mainland China) and Hong Kong Island, with the latter being more formal business and very high-end commercial and Kowloon suited more to general shopping opportunities including jewelers, electronics vendors and a seemingly limitless supply of tailors.

In short it’s a great place to spend a few days.

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The week-long Spring Festival holiday provided an excellent opportunity for some longer travel within China. The successful trip to Harbin the weekend had given us confidence that the already-spent investment on this organized tour with the China Culture Center would be good. We were not disappointed.

Briefly speaking our itinerary took us from Beijing into Kunming, onto Jianshui, a full day at Yuanyang, back to Kunming for a flight to Xishuangbanna and then back into Kunming for a day before flying home. Amy is doing a much more thorough job of telling the story in detail over here: Yunnan Adventures, Rice Terraces, Xishuangbanna.

Kunming-Jianshui

We stayed in a courtyard hotel which felt like an overnight stay at the Summer Palace. During the day we spent time in the city as well as smaller villages and saw a side of Chinese life that seems entirely absent in the huge bustling capital.

Hani rice terraces at Yuanyang

With a full day from before dawn to well after dusk there was plenty of time to take photos. Although the morning fog stayed well into the day it did lift in the middle of the afternoon to reveal some incredible feats of manual labor and engineering.

Xishuangbanna

In Xishuangbanna we explored local markets, visited a much smaller traditional village and took a trip to a tea plantation by tractor.

Kunming

A bonus final day in Kunming gave us the opportunity to reconnect with the same local guide we’d had earlier in the week and visit the nearby ‘Stone Forest’.

Overall it was an excellent trip. I would happily recommend the CCC tour for its organization and efficiency, and particularly the efforts of our guide, Edwin, who made a deliberate and consistent effort to ensure a good time was had by all.

Yunnan trip slideshow

This last weekend Amy and I traveled to Harbin, a city of about 4M in the north of China, to visit the Snow and Ice World, see some Siberian Tigers and enjoy some Russian-influenced cuisine. After an early flight on Saturday morning, we went straight to a park full of snow sculptures of all styles, ideas and sizes.

This particular one was about the width of a city block:

After a tasty lunch we headed out to a military/industrial-looking camp which was home for some 400 Siberian tigers. During a safari-like tour in a caged bus, visitors can select from a menu of animals including chickens, pheasant and even a cow which are then given to the tigers as their source of food and hunting practice.

Saturday night we wore everything we had taken with us (literally – about seven layers total) and headed out for the Ice World, a collection of life-size buildings made entirely of blocks of ice containing lights. The result is stunning.

The pace was kept up on Sunday with a very early start to visit a fish market and a sobering trip to Unit 731, a Japanese biological/chemical warfare research center.

We had a brief opportunity in the afternoon to spend some time in the center of town amidst a snowstorm and walk to Saint Sofia Church before making the journey back to the airport.

I would consider it a success on all counts. The trip was organized by the China Culture Center and while organized tour groups aren’t normally something we’d gravitate towards, the convenience of having transport, accommodation, dining and activities all arranged was hard to beat in a country where I still have difficulty ordering lunch. Many of the other people in the group were in a similar situation and overall I was very comfortable and pleased with the arrangement. Recommended.

Trip to Harbin slideshow

As a mini pre-Christmas vacation, Amy and I travelled to Colorado for a few days last week.

We left Seattle early on Wednesday and were in Denver by noon. I called in to several meetings and continued to work through the afternoon and early evening from our hotel room to finish up some items from the week.

Thursday was an entirely different experience. We were up early and headed to a nondescript warehouse in the suburbs of Denver to witness the filming of a Food Network Challenge starring our very own Eve Samonsky. It was great seeing the behind-the-scenes set up; the coordination effort, number of people involved, logistics and sheer volume of recorded video was surprising to me, overshadowed only by the impressive creations of the competing pastry chefs. While the competitors worked non-stop for some 10+ hours, we broke up the day with a good breakfast at Lucile’s and a walk around Wash Park. We returned for a tense ending and to admire the result of a day of hard effort but you’ll have to wait until the show airs some time in 2010 to see it all.

On Friday morning we headed up to Winter Park for a couple of days of skiing. There had been about 6” of snow the day before but continues were dry, clear and cold by the time we arrived shortly after lunch. The first few runs of the season are always a bit of a challenge but it came back quickly. We enjoyed a good few hours on the slopes surrounding by great views of the snow-covered Rockies before retiring to a ski-in condo at the Iron Horse Resort (bargain found online just the night before!). More skiing on Saturday, followed by a good soak in the hot tub. Aching bones.

The views from the slopes are something you can’t really capture with a camera. The bright clear sunshine at 9,000+ ft, crisp 15 degrees F and brilliant blue skies are all around.

Back to Seattle on Sunday morning.

Wash Park on Flickr

While back in the UK earlier in August, Amy and I took a side trip to Venice, Italy for just a few days.

It’s a fairly short flight out of East Midlands Airport into Venice. You ride on a quick bus from the airport to Piazzale Roma and then leave the wheels behind. There really are no cars. Boats, water or by foot are the only means of getting around the city. And that goes for everything else too – food, water, produce, fish and trash.

History runs deep and is inextricable from the identity of the city. That said, by visiting in August (holiday season) the ratio of tourists to Venetians was a bit out of balance. We did find ourselves some escape from the crowds later on, however.

Gondolas share the water with taxis and huge vaporetto water-buses. It’s a wild confusion of traffic.

The Palazzo Ducale di Venezia (Doge’s Palace) afforded some relief from the heat. The huge ornate rooms are very impressive. And some of the maps depicting the geographic understanding of the world hundreds of years ago were fascinating.

The view from the Campanile in Piazza San Marco offers a stunning view of the city. From up there the density of the buildings completely explains the tight mesh of alleys and walkways throughout.

Another fun trip.

Full Venice photos on Flickr.

Barely back in Seattle for a quick change of clothes after the Tabernash adventure and we were on the road again, this time taking a trip back to England to see family and friends, attend a wedding and a garden party.

It was really great spending time with people I hadn’t seen in far too long and getting a chance to catch up with those things that make ‘home’ feel like home. May I present a selection:

Old buildings. Kenilworth Castle in this case.

A real chip shop. Yes, that does read ‘Fish and chips fried in beef dripping’. No fish and chips on this trip but I did rather enjoy a shopping tour around Morrisons – twiglets, cherry bakewells, malt loaf, real Cadburys chocolate, party rings and other assorted goodies.

Staffordshire Oatcakes. Great breakfast to fuel a day of 24 hours of traveling on the way home.

A feast of home-grown vegetables. Mum has been doing some great work in her allotment.

A trip to the Jephson Gardens in Leamington

More pictures in the England trip set on Flickr

In just ten days we also packed in an excursion to Venice and were honored to be joined by family and friends for a UK-based pre-wedding garden party. More on those to follow.

Wedding season is in full swing. This last weekend saw us flying in to Denver and then driving up to Tabernash, Colorado just past Winter Park for a family wedding at Devil’s Thumb Ranch.

At a mere 9000ft, even simple things like a walking around leave you winded. The temperature range is quite marked too, from 40F degrees at night to probably 90F during the day with intense sun. The scenery is fabulous, however.

Friday night was a Western-themed barbecue at Heck’s Tavern and perhaps the most fabulous collection of bolo ties ever assembled in a single place.

The ceremony and reception were a real treat too. As was the very impressive owner’s house in which we stayed. Overall, a great weekend all round.

Reed and Tess’s wedding set

This weekend we headed out to Walla Walla in eastern Washington to celebrate the marriage of some friends. The ceremony and reception were in a great location and the evening suited them perfectly. A great occasion.

Some photos from my Walla Walla trip set on Flickr.

Around Walla Walla:

Civil War reenactment at Fort Walla Walla

Walking on water at Sacajawea State Park

Alas I didn’t take many pictures of the wedding itself as there was too much other fun stuff happening. So here’s a picture of me on a tractor instead.