Edinburgh Festival and stuff

Wow, so long with out an update. Well got lucky this time, didn’t even have to pay for most of the trip, work has decided that I’d be more productive in Edinburgh…during the festival. Oh the fools. But seriously I was sent up beyond the Hadrian to do a job. Due to the festival there was no affordable accommodation anywhere near the city so I ended up staying in the little village of North Queensferry, which is at the northern end of the Forth road and rail bridges. It was only 15mins on the train into the city and one stop to work, but the train was only every half an hour on average.

Anyways, Edinburgh was lovely, if I had to summarize the look/feel of the city, I’d say solid. The architecture is square cut massive blockwork, there’s a massive castle in the middle of town on a solid rock mound, and the old buildings are just tall (apparently up to 15 storeys) back in the 15^th century. Because of the glaciers in the ice age, Edinburgh is a series of steep hills and valleys, and to cross these, the engineers of old had build up these massive arch bridges crossing the town, which resulted in a multi-tiered city. The second day I went for a wee stroll up Arthur’s seat which this hill/park towards one end of the city, from the top of which you can see the city all around you. It decided to lightly shower just when I had nearly gotten to the top, but I weathered it out and got a few quick snaps for you all to enjoy.

While I was there the festival was on, now for those who aren’t aware, there’s a number of festivals on during this time, the majors are the International, Fringe, Film, Book and the military tattoo. I managed to see a few shows while I was in town, mostly in the first and last weekends and a couple after work. I even managed to get a scalped ticket to see the tattoo on my last night in Edinburgh. One of the walking tours took you down into the vaults of the city which is supposed to be the most “psychically active” haunted place in the UK. I didn’t manage to see anything though, but the guide was trying his best to scare the pants off anyone who was listening. All in all a fantastic trip all curtsey of my employer Arup.

Chang Family Reunion: 20 years in the making

For those who don't know, my parents immigrated the family to Australia from Taiwan on the 9th of July 1986. Well my sisters decided that this year we were going to recreate this event. With no small part of organisation from everyone in the family, everyone arrived in Taichung a week before the big flight. My route to Taiwan was via Hong Kong; luckily I was able to get on the same connecting flight to Taipei as Chialia and the 3 boys. The first few days were spent waiting for Eddy to arrive from Tokyo. Those few days was spent in and out of air conditioning to escape the humid Taiwan summer days. The evenings were mostly cruising the many night markets, eating local food and checking out the local barging shopping. The day after Eddy arrived we headed to Alishan, one of the highest mountains in the middle of Taiwan.

Mum and Dad had organised a few nights away in the mountains for the family as well as one of our cousins and his wife and daughter. We went up there by train most of the way and in two vans for the remainder. The trip was almost cancelled on account of rain, as there is a risk of landslides in the mountains. The first afternoon was pretty easy as everyone just settled into our new accommodation. We went for a small walk up to see a sacred tree (cypress tree hundreds of years old) and the foundations of a Japanese shrine, the path also went past an old bunker in the hill. The second day was spent walking around Alishan itself. Highlights included seeing the site of the Alishan sacred tree, this tree was estimated to be 3000 years old when it was chopped down in 1997 (this tree was still standing the last time I was in Taiwan in the end of 1996). Other highlights included the Two Sisters Pond, the story that really got to Josh for the remainder of the trip. The walk took us past waterfalls, streams and a grove of ancient trees, and some really odd shaped tree stumps. That night we took a walk in a dark part of the woods near the hotel and we saw fireflies. Fireflies are getting harder to see in the wild as they require particularly unpolluted conditions with a water source but we were able to see quite a few that night. We woke up at silly o'clock the next morning to hike up a nearby peak to see the sunrise. When we got there was this guy who didn't know the way, didn't have a torch or any water that also wanted to climb the same peak. After a false start (we had walked down the wrong path in the dark) and many stumbles we finally got to the top in time for the sunrise. That afternoon we began the trip back to Taichung, making a number of various tourist stops along the way. A couple of days later we all headed towards the international airport again in Taipei, unfortunately we all couldn't get on the same flight back to Brisbane, but most of us did arrive in Brisbane on the 10th of July.

I spent most of the week in Brisbane frantically catching up with old friends and former work colleges. I managed to meet up with most of the guys that I used to work with at GHD, Brad, Stuart and Dave. Most of the time was spent having lunches and dinners, it seems that the eating didn't stop once I left Taiwan. The quiz night in the valley with Wei Yang, Wayne and Carla and Ian was particularly fun, even though we got our butts kicked. In all too short a time it was back to the airport again for the long haul trip back to London.