Māoer – 猫儿

We’re travelling again!

Sophia Chong — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:54:55 +0000

Hola everyone!

We’re travelling again – this time mostly in Spain, with perhaps a side trip Morocco.

UPDATE: Ash is posting Instagrams, which you can check out here!

Sophia will also be posting small photos (like Instagrams) here.

Cheers,
Ash and Sophia

Tagged: 2011, Europe, Spain, Travel

What’s wrong with this picture (x2)?

Sophia Chong — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 08:58:11 +0000

Oh! (Those aren’t real dumplings by the way.)

Tagged: Saturn, Sydney

Introducing Milly and Kobe….

Sophia Chong — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 08:41:09 +0000

Emily’s lovely, furry, crazy ragdolls!

Tagged: Family, Ragdolls, Sydney

More Saturn

Ashley Craig — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 07:19:21 +0000

It is time for some more photos of Saturn (our crazy cat)!

I have only included a few this time. If you want to see more, take a look at our original post about Saturn. The highlight is definitely the one of her trying to sit on top of a flat screen TV. Surely that’s not comfortable!

Tagged: 2010, Family, Home, Saturn, Sydney

Ash’s Graduation 2010

Ashley Craig — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 06:51:07 +0000

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.

Tagged: 2010, Australia, Family, Friends, Sydney

Sophia’s Graduation 2009

Sophia Chong — Sun, 23 May 2010 11:31:00 +0000

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.

Tagged: 2009, Family, Sydney

Shirakawago (Japan 2009-10)

Sophia Chong — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 07:44:40 +0000

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!

Tagged: 2010, Asia, Japan, Shirakawago, Snow, Travel

Great Wall 2010 (Jinshanling to Simatai)

Ashley Craig — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:17:50 +0000

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!

Sīmǎtái

Tagged: 2010, Asia, Beijing, China, Friends, Travel

Ash’s Favourites (to 2007)

Ashley Craig — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:42:37 +0000

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.

Tagged: 2007, Asia, Australia, Beijing, China, Harbin, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Rome, Sydney, Tasmania, WA, Yunnan

Dan & Maggie’s Wedding 2010

Sophia Chong — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 06:05:30 +0000

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.

Tagged: 2010, Asia, China, Friends, Travel, Weddings

Kyoto (Japan 2009-10)

Sophia Chong — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:09:13 +0000

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!

Tagged: 2009, Asia, Japan, Travel

Yunnan 2007

Ashley Craig — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:03:55 +0000

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).

Tagged: 2007, Asia, China, Travel, Yunnan

Saturn

Ashley Craig — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:38:02 +0000

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!

Tagged: Home, Saturn, Sydney

Harbin 2007

Ashley Craig — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:46:14 +0000

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.

Tagged: 2007, Asia, China, Harbin, Travel

First Post

Ashley Craig — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:39:23 +0000

Hi all,

This is our first ever post. At this stage, we are still experimenting with WordPress. Once we get a good handle on it, we’ll start adding photos and perhaps writing a little too. For now, the focus of the blog will be the photos from our recent travels.

Cheers,

Ash (and Sophia)