http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/modloh/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from modloh en-us Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:46:40 +0000 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:46:40 +0000 On 10 December at about 9am Dan rang me at work. She needed me to take her to the Family Birth Centre to see the midwife about something. It was possible waters had broken and they passed Dan onto the hospital for further tests. These were inconclusive and they wanted her to stay in hospital overnight for observation. She rang at 4.30am to say contractions had started at midnight. Her father who http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-359997.html Actually in Albany Cliffrsquos apartment room booking fell through last minute and we ended in Grey Street Cottage which hardly cost any more. This was a real find fully furnished well appointed polished wood floors and a beautiful garden there great views of Princes Harbour from the front veranda and it was a short walk from the main street of Albany. We enjoyed visiting the Mt Romance Fa http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Albany/blog-359994.html We decided to try for a baby when Dan arrived in Australia imagining it would take some months. It took no time at all hardly allowing time for Dan to get established in her new life. An Aboriginal cultural tour at Kingrsquos Park with Cliffrsquos colleagues in June provided an opportunity to understand Aboriginal ways of life connections to land and spiritual beliefs thanks to Kaye for so http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-359988.html A longer trip had to be cut short for work reasons but we managed a long weekend in Sydney via Melbourne where we saw Cliffrsquos alltime favourite Jazz artist Abdullah Ibrahim with his band Ekaya at the Regent Theatre as part of the Melbourne Jazz Festival. In Sydney Dan was able to see Cliffrsquos grand family home in Eastwood to meet his mother in the nursing home to meet some close http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-359987.html As usual Cliff had some trips away for work during 2008. In June he had the opportunity to travel to Sydney to present a paper on custodial transport at the Critical Criminology Conference something he had worked on for his Masterrsquos. In August he was required to be in Bunbury for five days and at the end of October in Albany for four days. In both cases in consideration of her condition http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Bunbury/blog-359991.html The foreshore at Matilda Bay was the venue for a Reception Picnic involving many of Cliffrsquos friends and colleagues. It was as much to welcome Dan to her new life in Australia as to celebrate our marriage with our friends in Perth. Dan again looked wonderful in her red wedding dress and Cliff topped his white shirt red tie black pants combo with a black leather hat. We reprised our weddin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-359986.html On 19 March 2008 Dan arrived at Perth Airport managing to bring much extra luggage as one does when one emigrates In the end the immigration authorities were kind to us and processed Danrsquos application expeditiously once we had finally inveigled the necessary Criminal Records check from the UK Constabulary on our third attempt. We celebrated our first night together in Australia at the F http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-359985.html Cliff made it back to Shenzhen two days before the Calendar New Year but of course celebrations in China are reserved for the Lunar New Year aka the Spring Festival. Sadly the 2008 festival in China was marred by unseasonably arctic weather in middle provinces that ruined travel plans for millions of people and caused the deaths of not a few. Tropical Shenzhen itself was remarkably cold forcin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangdong/Shenzhen/blog-359983.html I was privileged to enjoy Christmas with in great company Diana and her GreekAustralian friend Nancy in a coastal town on the Peloponnesian Peninsula in Greece. As well as hosting a fine feast for Christmas Day Nancy managed to show us remarkable amount of Peloponnesia including the ruin of ancient Mycenae sites associated with Hercules an ancestral village or hers in the hills and Nafplio o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-359980.html After a sad farewell to my companions at Heathrow I went back to the Youth Hostel at St Pauls for another night. Before heading to Bath I had stayed there and enjoyed exploring the surroundings and a night excursion to Piccadilly where I found a bookshop with a bunch of Danrsquos favourite book series Horrible Histories. This night however I found myself at a suburban party to catch up with http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-359977.html Heading back to London we passed through Oxford a veritable riot of architecture. I really only had time for a brief walk through the town centre to the University Church of St Mary the Virgin the tower of which affords some magnificent views including of the Radcliffe Camera the original science library and of course of the colleges which comprise the veritable University. Louisa and I also http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-359965.html With an early start we headed for Avebury to see the 335 metre diameter ancient stone circle flanked by older massive ditches and embankments dating possibly from 3400 BC. The town itself was especially pretty with thatchedroofed Elizabethan style buildings atmospheric old stone church and church yard which was sited at one end of standing stone starcens. Not far away was 40metre high Silbu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Wiltshire/Avebury/blog-359964.html My visit to United Queendom coincided with that of my old Uni friends Peter and Louisa and two of their fine lads. I joined them in London to hire a car to see some of SouthWest England armed with a booking at the grand old Youth Hostel in Bath. The buildings and streetscape of central Bath were classic. The bathhouse itself is a worthy monument with ancient and modern elements and Bath Abbey http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Bath/blog-359961.html Di and I also managed a daytrip to York. Having visited the amazing York Minister with the great Rose Window celebrating the end of the War of the Roses between the House of Lancaster and House of York the York Minster Crypt the Jorvik Museum on the site of an archaeological dig and bringing to life the original Viking City another archaeological museum the local markets and the striking Cl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/North-Yorkshire/York/blog-359959.html Having revisited my bride in Shenzhen I slipped off to England for a bit. The plane from Hong Kong took us over a gasoil field in Siberia presenting an apocalyptic vision of flares and illuminated installations across a vast area. The view of London between broken cloud with a full moon was also a treat as were snow covered slopes sighted on the connecting flight North to Newcastle. My friend http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Tyne-and-Wear/Newcastle-Upon-Tyne/blog-359941.html 10 November 2007 was a great day a red letter day The weather was fine the company first class and the food exquisitely tasty. Oh it was also the day we got married Myself Dan my sisters from Sydney and Dan's father and uncle from Fuzhou took taxis to the Phoenix Restaurant in the Pavillion Hotel in Futian Shenzhen arriving at 4pm. We had booked a particularly nice suite which the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangdong/Shenzhen/blog-219900.html Jenny Gillian and Dan first met at lunchtime the following day when we all went shopping to Dongmen all getting on famously. As Dan went back to work they enjoyed purchasing fabrics for making clothes for themselves and their families. The following day Cliff took them to Guangzhou where we took the cable car up Baiyun Mountain and enjoyed seeing how people enjoyed themselves kicking feath http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangdong/Shenzhen/blog-219217.html 7 November saw the arrival of my two sisters Jenny and Gillian from Sydney. I went to meet them at Hong Kong Airport and enjoyed the day doing a walking tour in the old Chinese quarter of Hong Kong Island including a number of small temples and antique shops and visiting a particularly large Buddha recently constructed with temple and monastery on a mountain on Lantau Island not far from the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-219207.html In the weeks before Dan was able to take leave I found myself exploring the local communities and hills around our home. For example I found an old cobbled road that winds through the police and prison complex opposite our building and into the hills. I have yet to explore the full extent of it. However I did find a way to climb the mountain behind the prison and see some great views of She http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangdong/Shenzhen/blog-217302.html We had hoped to see more of China in the second week of Danrsquos holiday possibly to Henan and Xirsquoan cradles of Chinese civilisation. However tours are exhausting and for Dan after the long hours at work a second tour was unthinkable. We started dreaming of a few days at a resort on Sanya Beach on Hainan but a phone call between Dan and her father made it clear that we needed to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Fujian/Fuzhou/blog-217290.html