Climbing in the Spring Snow

Having lived in Scotland for 20+ years, I have mastered the art of moaning constantly about the weather.  Every year, come October time, you'd hear me complain, "it'd been terrible climbing weather this year" or "we ended up spending the whole time watching a mini waterfall run down our climb".  Realising that I'm fast transforming myself into a grumpy old woman, I needed to do something about my climbing plans this year.  Ever resourceful, my climbing partner suggested kicking off the climbing season south of the border, where it's rumoured to be warmer and drier.

Here's our first outing this season, in May, at Crag Lough, Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland:

Four Oh

It's been an action-packed few months since the last post, both at work and at play.  The most important update is Golf Boy turning 'Four Oh' earlier this year.  He celebrated the occasion with a boys' trip to Myrtle Beach.  Not quite there yet myself (ahem...), I haven't really given this much thought, but forty is clearly a significant milestone in adulthood.  Not only did he do all the packing entirely on his own, there was a lack of late and wild nights while they were away.  It seems that playing a minimum of 18 holes each day has resulted in a carnage of sleepy bodies on sofas by 10 pm each evening.

*sigh*  The rock n roll days are over.

Dear Santa
For Christmas this year, I would love a pipe and a pair of slippers.  
Golf Boy x

Scheme $6000

Let me just start with a declaration of interest - Golf Boy and I would like to thank the HK Government for sponsoring our 2012 January adventure.

In HK, Government budget surplus in times of recession has resulted in the proposal of injecting HK$6000 into the retirement savings account of each resident.  However, in a perfect demonstration of the principles of discounting, the Government was soon pressurised into handing out the cash now rather than later.  Economists will tell you that this is not necessarily a bad thing, as a good proportion of the money would no doubt be immediately re-injected into the local economy.  Interestingly, a straw poll on family, friends and friends of family and friends soon revealed that there were really two key beneficiaries of this exercise: (1) The Hong Kong Jockey Club and (2) Apple - on the sale of iPad 2 and iPhone 4.

My $6000 pretty much all went towards a week of R&R in Penang and Langkawi with Golf Boy.  We had a fantastic time exploring Georgetown and sampling all the amazing street food on offer, followed by a very relaxing time on the island of Langkawi.  The highlights of the trip included: watching a family of long-tailed macaque through our balcony window, seeing dusky leaf monkeys in the wild, snorkelling around a coral nursery, visiting a bat cave and kayaking through the mangroves (in a double kayak with Golf Boy).

Taken by Golf Boy

Clearly couldn't have been doing his fair share of paddling!

Our January adventure ended with welcoming the Year of the Dragon with family in HK.  Four consecutive nights of banqueting for 20 with the whole extended family, can't say we hadn't celebrated in style.

January photos shall be appearing soon on flickr.

Bring on 2012!

Ah, at last January 2012, Golf Boy and I are off on holiday!

We're currently sitting at the airport, waiting for our delayed flight to London, then hopefully onto to HK.  Those of you who are familiar with my travel stories will know that they are rarely uneventful.  Following a mad couple of days of sorting out work and the flat, organising fish-sitter, shopping for presents to take home and packing, we went to bed last night thinking "that's it, R&R time from now".  Not yet, it seems - this morning, I found myself wide awake at 6 am.  It must be the excitement of finally off on holiday I thought, but soon realised it was the noise of the lead capping on the roof flapping against the chimney that woke me.  Also, the Met Office had issued a red alert earlier, and no flights have left or arrived Glasgow before noon today.  Having left our keys with our neighbour and run off, we're now waiting in hope that our's will be the first flight from Glasgow to Heathrow today...

... a day later, I'm wide awake at 6 am again.  This time however, is due to jet-lag, so no complaints.

On the move

I'm not the only family member who seems to be constantly on the move these days.  Last week, wee Brother has once again flown the nest and headed to Beijing to start his new job.  He is officially the most adventurous member of the family, having lived and worked in Scotland, West Palm Beach, Hong Kong, and now Beijing.  For the rest of us, while we rarely migrate, we do love travelling - trip to Beijing is now top of the list!

Mum on Windchime some years ago

Not to be out-done by wee Brother, wee Sis is also in the middle of an epic adventure.  At three to four miles per hour, she is currently bringing Windchime back to Cambridge from Birmingham after a major refit.  Along with promises of eternal gratitude and decent beer stops, and unexpected but superb weather, a small army of friends have been persuaded to help along the way.  Even my water-resistant (that is resistant to getting into water - any pool, canal, river or open water) climbing partner has been persuaded to trade climbing for cruising for a week.

Sadly for me, I don't get to join in the fun as I have my own European tour to come - eight European cities in five weeks; all work and no play.  I had often wanted to be Phileas Fogg when I was a child, perhaps Golf Boy can be my Jean Passepartout...

Windchime Journey Projections Waterway	From	To	Miles	Locks	Hours
Worcester Birmingham Canal	Stoke Prior	Kings Norton Junction	11.75	35	8.5
North Stratford Canal	Kings Norton Junction	Kingswood Junction	12.5	18	7.5
Grand Union Canal	Kingswood Junction	Gayton Junction	43.25	59	24.5
Northampton Arm	Gayton Junction	Northampton	5	17	5
River Nene	Northampton	Peterborough	61	37	36
Middle Levels	Peterborough	Denver	30	4	11
Great Ouse	Denver	Popes Corner	20	1	7
River Cam	Popes Corner	Cambridge	14.25	3	5.5
			197.75	174	105

This day in history

31 August 2003: My first taste of outdoor climbing (Loudoun Hill).

Food, glorious food

It's becoming clear, I have to concede that I'll never get this work-life balance right.  This is the peak of the climbing season, and I have been out of action for three weeks due to work commitments.  Golf Boy and I had previously planned our annual Far East adventure for September, it's now been postponed till Jan 2012 because I struggle to find space in my work diary.  Unsurprisingly, my blog and flickr have both been gathering dust.  However, one thing I refuse to give up and always manage to fit into my work travels is an indulgent food experience...

O Ya, Boston - this is my second visit in two years, I still maintain this place produces some of the best food I have ever eaten.  Generally, Japanese food is renowned for its unusual but sensational flavours and immaculate presentation, the food at O Ya is all that at the highest level.  We had 19 courses and a variety of sake pairing, it was four hours of pure indulgence. 

Cail Bruich, Glasgow - this is not a work-related outing, but a great discovery worth noting.  Cail Bruich is within 15-minute walking distance from our flat, with great reviews of modern Scottish food, but somehow we never got round to it.  Always resourceful, Golf Boy got us a voucher for Chateaubriand, so off we went.  The reviews were spot on, and we were not disappointed - the menu is imaginative and the food is superb.  The only slight disappointment was our restriction on having Chateaubriand due to the voucher; while it was a supremely good steak, I was also very tempted by everything else that was coming out of the kitchen.  

Few days after our visit, we read that Chris Charalambous (chef and proprietor) was invited to spend a few months at Noma (top restaurant in the world since El Bulli announced closure) in Copenhagen.  I guess there's no reason not to stop by more often.  

York and Albany, London - my second encounter with the Gordon Ramsay empire.  I'm still no fan of the man himself, but this was another undeniably good meal.  

Monachyl Mhor, Trossachs - having read great things about this place and being impressed by Tom Lewis on the Great British Menu, we have sent various family members and visitors along, but never ourselves.  Now, we have finally made it to Monachyl Mhor ourselves!  

We had a great time, and learned a lesson in wine etiquette.  I'm quite sure we aren't the only ones guilty of this, but when the waiting staff comes to present you with the wine you ordered, most of the time you'd just glance at the bottle, nod politely before tasting and having your glasses filled.  Well, we did just that, and only after a short while of sipping and chatting did we realise that it was not the wine we ordered.  It was also when we suddenly remembered that she also said "this is our last bottle in the cellar" that sent a mild panic between us.  We queried the waiting staff, she went away for quite some time and brought back the sommelier; meanwhile Golf Boy was turning pale at the thought of us having been given the most expensive bottle of wine from their cellar.  Well, it was a more expensive bottle, they changed the wine without fuss and offered us the two already poured large glasses on the house; panic over.  Needless to say, I got a long lecture from my sommelier brother.

St Pancras Booking Office, London - the newly refurbished St Pancras Hotel bar, recommended by my sister who stopped by while waiting for the Eurostar.  Their champagne cocktails are the best, and the best quality bar snack you'd find anywhere.  Just as well I didn't have a train to catch, I'd be certain to miss it.

Nakajima, Tokyo - this is a meal that I did end up missing the train for.  I had planned to get the Shinkazen Nozomi to Kyoto at lunchtime.  However, I was too tempted by a one-Michelin-star lunch for 800 yen, so the bullet train has to wait.  It's a tiny restaurant on a side street in the basement.  Judging by the queue, it's clearly very popular.  In the evening they serve Japanese haute cuisine, but at lunchtime, they only offer four sardines dishes on the menu, all for 800 yen; I had the sardines sashimi.  I sat at the counter and watched the chefs at work, while having the best sardines I've ever had.