Ash’s Graduation 2010

After 6 years, I have finally graduated!!!

As Sophia pointed out in the previous post, the quadrangle of the University of Sydney is a very scenic place for graduation photos. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side this time, but we still managed to get some good photos, thanks to the photographic mastery of Sophia and my Dad.

The whole year with the jacaranda tree.

Throwing our hats in celebration!

Ash with the two bosses of Economics

Ash, Min-Taec, Malvin and Ash…

Jack, Min-Taec, Bonnie, Malvin, Ash and Daniel.

Jack, Min-Taec, Bonnie, Malvin, Ash, Daniel and Savita.

A large group of graduands.

Elina and Sophia.

Ash with brother, Julian.

Most of us, with the Jacaranda tree.

Another one with the Jacaranda.

Another group shot.

… And another group shot.

Just raising our hats this time.

Elina and Ash (Craig).

Min-Taec, Bonnie, Malvin and Ash.

Sophia’s Graduation 2009

The main hall and quadrangle at Sydney Uni provides a lovely backdrop for graduation photos. Ash’s graduation is coming up in a week or two, so I thought I would share a few graduation and after party photos. I have to thank my sister Emily for taking some awesome photos from the back of the hall. Apologies for the photos being in such a random order.

Shirakawago (Japan 2009-10)

One of the unexpected gems of our Japan trip was a little mountain village called Shirakawago. The town is nestled in the Japanese Alps, in quite a remote area. The town only supports about 700 people, and has a distinct style of housing to help deal with the extremely heavy snowfall the town receives each winter. Shirakawago was certainly one of the most scenic places we went to in Japan, and that’s saying something!

The bus station

Gassho close-up

The snow is almost taller than me!

A toy town from above

Lookout (2)

Shrine!

Buddha!

Don’t fall off!

Igloo

Ash inside igloo

Snowmen

The snow often was as high as the roof

Gassho (3)

Isolated Gassho

A road

Men on roof

Impressive Gassho

Stunning Gassho

Row of Gasshos

Bread superhero

Roof up-close

A clearing

Great Wall 2010 (Jinshanling to Simatai)

The Chinese have a saying: “If you haven’t been to the Great Wall, then you’re not a real Han”. Once you get there, you can understand why they’re so proud of it – It’s amazing!!

The part of the Great Wall that we decided to visit this time was slightly more adventurous than the standard package tour to Badaling (八达岭) or Mutianyu (慕田峪). Instead of the recently reconstructed (and overcrowded) sections, we opted to hike from Jinshanling (金山岭) to Simatai (司马台), based roughly on some instructions that we found on a Chinese travel site. Along for the ride were Danny and Dianne, who we had just met at Dan and Maggie’s wedding.

Although we started off a bit worried about getting stuck, we ended up having a fantastic day, with no major glitches at all! (That said, I’ll definitely be posting some more detailed instructions in a future post, based on the assumption that you speak no Mandarin!)

Anyway, practicalities aside, here are some of our photos from the day!

Approaching a watchtower.

The wall extending into the distance.

Sophia and me.

A particularly large watchtower.

Still a long way to go…

Sophia leaning on her hiking pole.

Looking back up a dodgy descent.

A battered old watchtower.

Sophia amongst the ruins.

Danny and Dianne with the ruins.

The whole party.

All four of us, one window each.

Onwards and upwards.

Danny and Dianne on an old section of the wall.

A nice flat section.

A narrow section of the wall.

Approaching a steep ascent.

Peeking over a crest.

Sīmǎtái

Ash’s Favourites (to 2007)

These photos are a selection of some of my favourites up to about 2007 (I’ll put up another post some time with some more recent photos too!). The locations include Japan, Italy, Portugal, China and Australia.

A stereotypically Chinese photo!

Posing on the ice at the Summer Palace, Beijing.

Close-up of the ice

An ice sculpture of a mechanical fish.

Sunset at the Great Wall.

Seagulls circling in Kunming, Yunnan.

Sunset over Sydney Harbour.

Windmills in Albany, WA.

Looking up at a windmill.

Castelo dos Mouros, Portugal.

The Colosseum, Rome.

Some hot springs near Tokyo.

Some kind of flytrap I think!

Red autumn leaves, Tokyo.

A Tasmanian cave.

Some grass pods, from near Taronga Zoo.

Some pink flowers.

Saturn with a disturbed look in her eyes.

Dan & Maggie’s Wedding 2010

Last week, we headed off to Dan and Maggie’s hometown of Shangyu (上虞), Zhejiang (浙江) province in China to attend their traditional Chinese wedding! We were very lucky to be invited by Dan and Maggie to be part of their bridal party, and to experience the intimacy of a wedding usually only family members are party to!

The photos below capture the arrival of Dan and his boys at Maggie’s house to pick up the bride. In accordance with Chinese tradition, Dan had to demonstrate his love for Maggie by completing a series of obstacles set up by the girls. His boys help him out by completing the tasks with/for him.

Mischief

Delicious

The girls

Marching band (1)

Marching Band (2)

Marching Band (3)

Marching Band (4)

Dan arrives

Dan emerges from car

Dan arrives (3)

Dan and his boys

Dan arrives (4)

Dan arrives (5)

Dan & Kado

Dan arrives (7)

Cream, M&Ms and Feet.

Off we go!

Are those push ups high enough?

Contemplating

Yoga Move (1)

Yoga Move (2)

Danny’s Move

Peggy and Kado

Butt Writing (1)

Butt Writing (2)

Ash butt writing

Danny gives it a go too

Negotiating door money

Food

Girl’s Table

Bridal Car

Wedding flower

Kyoto (Japan 2009-10)

Ash has been asking me to post something to this blog for quite some time now, and I know a few of you are keen for photos from our most recent trip to Japan. First up, I have photos from Kyoto, Japan’s cultural heart! It has many many stunning temples and gardens. Below is a sample of the few we visited during our week there!

Yunnan 2007

Yunnan (云南） is another of my favourite locations in China. The capital city，Kunming (昆明) is known as the “City of Eternal Spring”, due to its year-round warm weather. As such, it is a very refreshing place to go when you are fed up with the much harsher winter of northern China. Yunnan is also famous for its amazing ethnic diversity.

The highlights of the photos include the magnificent Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡) and the area surrounding Dali (大理).

Some metal people playing Chess.

Hundreds of seagulls flying around in circles.

The square in front of our hostel.

A nice island near Dali.

A local Bai girl hard at work.

Some older Bai women.

Me at the bottom of Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The rapids at Tiger Leaping Gorge.

More rapids!

That is a nice gorge!

The gorge at sunset.

Crossing a waterfall.

The dining room where we stayed.

Mist on the mountains at sunrise.

A waterfall flowing over the path.

The view from breakfast!

Saturn

Our new blog would hardly be complete without a post dedicated to Saturn (our cat). There will no doubt be many pictures of her to come, but here are a few to start.

By the time you’ve seen a few, you’ll realise that she’s completely out of her mind!

Saturn loves to climb flyscreens.

I didn’t put her there!

This move is impressive!

An odd place to sit!

A portrait of Saturn.

What a rude position for a cat to be in.

Saturn on the bathmat.

Check out the manic look in her eyes!

For some reason, Saturn loves to sit in sinks.

About to jump up and bite me.

A very narrow hiding spot.

Pretending to be a serious cat.

Enjoying the morning light.

Such big ears!

So little!

Not sure why she does this…

Harbin 2007

The photos from my first Harbin trip are some of my favourites. For those of you unfamiliar with China, Harbin (哈尔滨) is the location of a world-famous ice festival.

The scale of some of the ice and snow constructions is incredible. At the same time, though, check out the intricate details of some of the smaller works.

Some of my fellow travellers, on my first trip to Harbin.

A house made of snow.

A snowman and its child.

Notice the broken “glass”!

A close-up of a wall of ice.

These things were enormous!

My friend Chris, with an awesome ice sculpture.

Eagle ice sculpture.

An ice man with a Chinese scroll.

Check out the intricate details!

A awesome robot ice fish!

Ice gears.

Another nice one.

That ball was heavy!

An artist working on his sculpture.

View through an ice sculpture.

When I grow up, I want to live in one of these…

Yes. They are real.

A close up of a frozen goldfish.