Andy Oakley

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.

The last week has been a blur. Just one week ago I woke up in a small hotel in Farnham, Surrey yet I’ve also spend quite a number of days here in Seattle. This is how it went down.

Wind the clock back to last Thursday morning and a 5am town car to the airport. I pounded through some unfinished business at the gate and boarded the plane to Chicago. For those of us at 6′4″ I can definitely recommend the United Economy Plus; I felt like a sucker for buying it (at $100) on the way out but definitely missed it on the way back. A 6am arrival in Heathrow and the body is ready to sleep, not embrace the day ahead.

Heathrow Express into Paddington and I started off in search of some food. I wandered aimlessly for about 20 minutes until it started to rain so I stepped into the restaurant at a nearby Hilton Hotel. For the next hour, I gorged on all the British breakfast food I miss – beans, pork sausages, grilled tomatoes, particular hash browns, real bacon. Mmmmm.

I planned to spend the day with my mum who was coming down by train. I figured I could at least drop off my bags at the hotel before she arrived and they did one better, letting me check in at 8am giving me time for a shower and shave.

We met at Euston and decided to head to the British Museum. The atrium is a very impressive structure, huge sweeping room over a main central exhibit with so much off to the sides too. Unfortunately we had the attention level of uninterested school children and headed straight for the coffee shop to catch up, incidentally glancing at a few mummies on the way. After a good chat, we walked through a small exhibit of American art (impressive woodcuts) and then decided we had had our fill of culture. Definitely a place to go back to, perhaps with a little more focus.

Next we caught to tube to Embankment, walked down the river to Parliament, through some back streets and through St James Park in a torrential downpour. All-Bar-One in Leicester Square for lunch and then we visited a place I’ve long wanted to go: the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. Closed shortly after the war, they provide a fascinating insight into the conditions and epic struggle of the time. Having read Roy Jenkin’s biography of Churchill a few years ago, I found a number of parts of the Churchill Museum to be quite familiar too. Highly recommended.

By the end of that tour, I was tired and fading fast. We parted ways and I got an early start on the night’s sleep.

Between 7/28 and and 8/7, Amy and I drove some 2590 miles across the northwest, hitting five states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana) and seeing some fabulous scenery, countless wild animals, many small towns and some cowboy hats.

The route, sketched out below, looked something like this:

7/28: Seattle to Boise by way of I-90, I-82 and I-84 clipping through the corner of Oregon
7/29: US 93, US 26, US 20, US 26 to a campground in the Gros Ventre range just south of Jackson
7/30: Short drive north stopping Jackson and on to Colter Bay in the Grand Tetons National Park
7/31: Stayed in Grand Tetons National Park
8/1: Pushed north into Yellowstone National Park
8/2: Stayed in Yellowstone National Park
8/3: Took the East Exit, through Cody and Thermopolis to camp in the Bighorn Mountains, west of Buffalo
8/4: Morning stop in Buffalo and on to Sheridan
8/5: Stayed in Sheridan
8/6: Long drive through Montana, dinner in Missoula and spent the night in Spokane
8/7: Drive home to Seattle

Summer vacation photos on Flickr

Taken from the Madagascar Team 1 Journal, originally by Pokey

With Sam deposed, Charley took over the role of leader for our final day on Madagascar’s shores. We had breakfast in a cafe across the road from the Hotel Anjary and then split into 2 groups. One group’s task was to retrieve the luggage, which had been left in the Hotel Cappucino for us. The other group set abot getting transport to the airport and buying souvenirs. With my rucksack being one of those left on the runway, I went with the first group, but I was sceptical as to how many rucksacks we’d fnd. Thankfully, a full completement of rucksacks were found, along with a note from Nanah. He’d been earlier to collect his belongings and would see us later. The joy well-done, we also set about buying souvenirs. Bottles of Three Horses, T-shirts from Le Champion supermarket and an excellent tin Air Madagascar plane would perhaps remind me more of the grountry and my sparsely-clad wrestlers.

We had lunch in the Hotel Colbert where the steak and crisps for main course and strawberry juice came highly recommended. Here, Nanah reappeared and gave Martin a boat whilst we thanked him with some bicycle lights.

We left “the vibrant city with some crazy characters” behind and travelled to the airport for 3.00 pm with out flight at about 9.00 pm. We queued for ages and there was a moment of panic when this very journal was lost, but thankfully retrieved shortly from a member of the airport security staff.

Once airbourne, and being a Sunday, we completed the final round of the Sunday night Pub Quiz.

To cut the long, long journey short, we landed in Nairobi where we all stayed on the plane and agin in Charles de Gaulle, Paris where we didn’t. We reached Heathrow at about 1.00 pm (Monday 11th) where we all bid fond farewells to Suzanne. Relieved to find the trusty Bassetts’ bus ON TIME we embarked and soon found ourselves sipping ice cold milk and chewing rather nice (blue!) Allsorts at a service station amidst the metropolis that is Birmingham. It being 5.00 pm and we being ahead of schedule, we telephoned our loved ones to be picked up at 6.00 pom. All were pleased to speak to their parents, except Mike, who, much to his disgust found that steak and chips awaited him at home. All eagerly awaited a hot bath and a comfortable bed.

We were finally there. Home.