The hills are alive…at the Hermitage!

The Braan Walk at the Hermitage might have been my favourite trail out of all the ones I’ve walked in Scotland. While Scotland is known for its hilly terrain and breathtaking mountains (which I also love), sometimes I prefer a more leisurely trip that wouldn’t require much sweating. That’s where the Hermitage came into play, being an easy walk with autumn in full swing and hiding another one of my favourite things – a waterfall. Following a guide from WalkHighlands, I embarked on this walk by myself on a fall Saturday morning.

This photo was taken as the train was nearing Dunkeld station, timestamped at 7:51 am. That means that I probably got on the train shortly after 6 am, which means that I left my flat before 5:30 am and definitely had to get out of bed at around 5 am. Yep, that was early, but the hills had the power to make me hop out of bed on a Saturday morning instead of indulging in a coveted sleep-in.

In October, daylight begins to retreat quite early and it gets dark unexpectedly early, which was why I started the walk so early. Previous experience has taught me that it could get potentially dangerous if I get stranded in a forested area when it gets dark, so I’d rather be safe than sorry. Here I go, venturing into the Hermitage, a wooded site that is party of the National Trust for Scotland. Feels like I’m about to intrude a fairy’s haven…

These tall trees remind me of the Ancient Cedar Trail in Hakone, Japan, though the trip to Japan was in 2020 whereas this was 2016 at the Hermitage. Almost 5 years ago already…wow. First destination was the Black Linn Falls (or Braan Falls), which were supposedly located not too far from the entrance of the Hermitage.

And here are the Black Linn Falls seen from Ossian’s Hall, a small house across from the falls. I almost missed this view as I was unsuccessful in opening the door of Ossian’s Hall at first. I kept trying to push and pull the door open but it wouldn’t budge, and just as I was about to leave, I slid the door gently and…it opened easily. *Smack my head* The Black Linn Falls are in fact my favourite waterfalls out of the ones I’ve visited in Scotland (Spectacle E’e, Clyde Falls, Bracklinn Falls, Black Spout, to name a few). Loving the sound of the water amidst the woods, with no one else around me.

Continuing on my walk along the Hermitage trail, immersing myself into the beauty of nature. Solo weekend trips like this refresh my body, mind, and soul and remind me to be thankful for the life and freedom that I have.

Tunnel, dew drops, shadows, and autumn foliage, Scotland style.

And even though I’ve left scotland for 4 years, I will never forget the vastness and majesty of its hills and valleys and lakes and skies!

Public sculptures in Glasgow

Having written a post about bizarre sculptures in Oslo, I thought I’d follow it up with one about the public sculptures in Glagsow. This one had been planned for a while, as I had been taking photos of public sculptures that I encountered when I was living in Glasgow. You may have read some of the rather old posts about the murals in Glasgow, but this will perhaps be the only one about public sculptures, as I don’t live in Glasgow anymore 😦 Still missing Glasgow and Scotland till this day, three years after I’d left!

Located in front of the Gallery of Modern Art in the city centre, the Duke of Wellington (sculptor: Carlo Marochetti) is arguably the most famous sculpture in Glasgow and is the subject of an ongoing joke, where a traffic cone is placed on the head of the duke. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the duke WITHOUT his cone hat. Not exactly sure where the humour originated but hey, I think the orange cone looks quite good on him, wouldn’t you agree? 😉 Lookin’ sharp, even in the rain!

The story of the two following sculptures can be found here. First, Lobey Dosser (sculptors: Tony Morrow and Nick Gillon): “Believed to be the world’s only two-legged equestrian statue, it shows Sheriff Lobey Dosser and his arch-nemesis Rank Bajin riding Lobey’s faithful steed, El Fideldo, or Elfie as she is known.” These are characters in the works of Bud Neill, a Scottish cartonnist popular in the mid-20th century. The sculpture was on Woodlands Road when I took this photo but some time later, when I passed by the same spot, it had been removed. Maybe the sheriff was off to some new adventure elsewhere in the city…

Another one of Bud Neill’s characters, G.I. Bride (sculptor: Ranald MacColl), stands at Partick train station in the West End. This lady carrying a baby was a war bride who married an American GI and went to the USA, and she’s seen here trying to hitch a ride back home to Partick. I found the story quite touching, and I’m glad they made it back home!

Mary and Magdeleine – The sculpture of Mary and Martha in The Sisters of Bethany (sculptor: Joh Warrington Wood) is one of the fine works of art found in the greenhouses at the Botanic Gardens in the West End. What struck me in particular were the fine details on the sisters’ dresses and in their hair.

The sculpture of Wincher’s Stance (sculptor: John Clinch) at Buchanan bus station was probably my favourite one out of all of the ones posted here. It seems to tell the story of a passionate reunion between two lovers after some time apart. It is more than fitting that such a representation should be found at a train or bus station, a place of many departures and arrivals, separations and reunions.

This is the sculpture out of all of the ones on the list that I knew the least about, and only with some extensive digging on the Internet did I find its name – The Govan Milestone (sculptor: Helen Denerley). I saw it one day as I was wandering around Govan. More information about this sculpture can be found here and here.

The three famous Scottish men portrayed here (confirmed on this web site) are, from left to right, scientist James Watt, trade unionist Jimmy Reid, and mountaineer Tom Weir (there’s a sculpture of him in Balmaha, near the starting point of the Conic Hill walk).

Rise by Andy Scott, creator of the Kelpies. Somehow the angle from which I took this photo made it look like the “wings” of the lady were slanted, whereas if you looked at her from a direct frontal view, they were more or less horizontal. It got me confused for a while and I even wondered if this was actually Rise…

Located in the city centre, Citizen Firefighter (sculptor: Kenny Hunter) commemorates the brave firefighters who have served and fought for the city of Glasgow.

Side view of Diagram of an Object (sculptor: Dhruva Mistry) in front of the Hunterian Art Gallery, next to the University of Glasgow library. What is it exactly? Well that’s up to anyone to interpret, I suppose, and that’s why the “object” isn’t named. At first glance it looked like some sort of chair, but it gradually turned into an abstract image of a parent embracing a child. Do you see what I see?

When I saw the Clyde Clock (sculptor: George Wyllie) outside the Buchanan bus station I thought…somebody must be running out of time! Perhaps that’s why it was there, to remind people running late to hurry up so they don’t miss their bus!

A little something different for this final one – not a sculpture in the traditional sense but one that must have been created purely out of spontaneity. It snowed heavily in Glasgow only once during the 2016 winter season (in January), and someone brought to life this little guy, whom I encountered on my way home. It was a pity that his lifespan was perhaps only one night, but I was glad to have met him before he disappeared 🙂

My stories 05: Everybody’s Changing

“So little time
Try to understand that I’m
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody’s changing
And I don’t feel the same
You’re gone from here
And soon you will disappear
Fading into beautiful light
Cause everybody’s changing
And I don’t feel right…”

The song “Everybody’s Changing” has been on my phone ever since I discovered it, and I remember very distinctly the circumstances under which I first heard this song. It was October 26, 2017, my final week in Glasgow. I was having lunch with a friend at Chaiwallah, a cafe/restaurant nearby the University of Glasgow that popped up a few months before. (Side note: the site of the restaurant used to be a public toilet but has since been revamped into a cafe. As far as I am aware, at the time of writing, the cafe has closed down.) The space was small but cozy, fitting only approximately 15 customers. I wasn’t very close with the friend with whom I had the lunch date, and within the less than one year that I had known her, we never had a one-on-one conversation. Yet, there was an unspoken mutual bond between us, so it was only natural to finally have a chat with her in a relaxed atmosphere, before I left Glasgow for good.

We ordered our food, and mine was a sandwich with sweet potato, avocado, onion, and cheese. Though the portion was small, it turned out to be one of the best sandwiches that I’ve ever had, but in fact, food was not the spotlight of this meal. Our conversations were light but pleasant, brief but memorable. We talked about God, aspirations, relationships, the past, the present, the future. And then I heard it – a song played in the background that instantly caught my attention. I don’t know what it was that appealed to me. The instrumentals? The voice of the lead singer? The vibe? It didn’t matter – I knew I had to find out the title of the song and who sang it. Thankfully I had Shazam on my phone, which opened up promptly despite my phone usually being sluggishly slow. I told my friend, “I’m sorry, give me a moment, I like this song.” She smiled and waited. In a few seconds, “Keane – Everybody’s Changing” appeared on my screen, and it was like a dose of epiphany…of course!

Keane. I should have recognized that voice, and I shouldn’t have been surprised. “Somewhere Only We Know” and “Perfect Symmetry” were songs by Keane that had significantly impacted various phases of my life, and now, “Everybody’s Changing” made its way into my heart. The song speaks of embarking on the walk of life while all of a sudden realizing that nothing is the same anymore. It speaks of the struggle to accept change in order to stay alive in the game of Life but at the same time, trying to remain true to oneself and remember one’s own identity. But in this day and age, we are all sacrifices of our own products, aren’t we? When we are twisted, bent, and scarred beyond recognition, is it those around us who have changed, or is it us and only us?

Just imagine the sweet potato, avocado, and onion fusing together in a warm cushion of cheese – oh it was lovely!

(This short essay was written on January 16, 2019.)

The hills are alive…at Glenfinnan Viaduct!

In July 2017, when I was still living in Glasgow, my friend Mini visited Scotland and I had the pleasure of hosting her and showing her around. We had a full weekend to go wherever in Scotland we wanted to, and Mini asked me for suggestions of places to see. I thought about it long and hard. There were lots of great places to see that doesn’t require more time than an overnight stay, but we wanted to pick somewhere that I hadn’t been to yet so that it’d be new for both of us, which was challenging because I had been to a lot of places!

Then I thought…hey! How about Glenfinnan near Fort William? I asked Mini, “Are you a fan of Harry Potter?” She answered, “Yes!” “Well then I have the perfect place – let’s go see the Harry Potter Bridge!”

Of course Harry Potter fans who have seen the movies would know that I was talking about the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which the Hogwarts Express crosses on the way to Hogwarts. I had known about it for a while with the intention to explore during a free weekend but somehow never got to it, so Mini’s arrival was the perfect opportunity.

We set out on Friday night and took the train to Fort William on the West Highland Way, which was around 3.5 hours from Glasgow. The West Highland Way has got to be one of the most scenic train routes in the world and I could never get enough of the views along the way. As it was mid-summer in Scotland, the sun was only beginning to show signs of setting even close to 9 pm (time that this photo was taken).

The next morning, we took another train westward to Glenfinnan, surrounded by lochs (Loch Shiel shown here) and mountains (Sgùrr Ghiubhsachain on the left) and beauty everywhere. There was a trail that would lead us to a designated viewpoint for the Glenfinnan Viaduct- seems like they’ve got it all figured out for us tourists.

Greenery, sunshine, companionship – seemed like a perfect day! The destination was the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which meant that we had to backtrack a little as our train crossed it before arriving at Glenfinnan station. Ordinary trains like the one we took regularly cross the viaduct, but we were there to see the crossing of the Jacobite steam train, the real Harry Potter experience!

We found the trail and started walking. We timed our walk so that we would arrive near the viaduct viewpoint well before the Jacobite was scheduled to appear. I think there were only two crossings of the Jacobite each way per day (the regular train crosses more often) so we definitely could not be late. Thankfully the trail was clear as day, and we were still surrounded by gorgeous scenery! We also had to make sure that we got back to the station in time, after the Jacobite crossing, to take OUR train back to Fort William, so it did take some planning ahead of time. But hey that’s what I love doing, and the anticipation was building up!

What’s that? A train on the viaduct? Yes, target in sight, though that was the regular train, not the Jacobite that we were waiting for. There was still a lot of time before it was scheduled to cross, and we were glad that we were not lost. Now to find the best viewpoint…

…this was a good place, but not quite close enough. Though, this perspective does show the grandiosity of the natural setting that we were immersed in. You could imagine how grand the viaduct itself was, but it seemed like a toy compared to the hills in the distance!

Ah, finally we arrived at the foot of the viaduct, right underneath it to feel its grandness close-up. We decided to split up to take photos from different angles, and I chose this place as I thought that it’d offer some great photos of the train and the viaduct together.

We kept looking and soon after saw a place where lots of folks were already set up and waiting. And we thought, that must be it, the official viewpoint that was sought after. It was about half an hour before the Jacobite was planned to appear, so our arrival gave Mini plenty of time to adjust her gear to take the perfect photos.

THIS. This is the place where the iconic photos of the Jacobite are usually taken. No wonder there were so many others guarding their spots. Those curves and arches on the viaduct look so smooth and aesthetically pleasing ❤

Mini's "gear" wasn't complicated or high-tech – just a smartphone, actually. We had to make things work by using what was available, namely Mini's backpack, wallet, and selfie stick, which all played a part in ensuring that her phone stood upright and still. Now all was set and we wait for the main character's appearance…

…but I had to run back to my spot, quickly because the train was coming! There it comes, choo choo! (Yes the train did make the sound.) I wonder if people on the train knew that outside their windows, many people were waiting for them to pass by 😛

Here’s a closer look at the Jacobite on the Glenfinnan Viaduct. I think I’d like to be on the Jacobite one day and travel from Fort William all the way to Mallaig, then take the ferry over to Skye instead of the bus. That’ll have to wait till I see my beloved Scotland again someday…

After the Jacobite has disappeared into the distance, Mini and I still had a bit of time left before our scheduled trip back to Fort William. We wandered a little along the shore of Loch Shiel and I became amazed again at how much beauty Scotland holds. And it saddened me that I’d be leaving in three months (till today I’m STILL sad that I am not in Scotland now!!)

Selfie time! Thanks to Mini’s visit, we had a fun-filled day hiking and exploring the Glenfinnan area (and I still didn’t know where to look in the camera). Of course I didn’t know at that time that two years later, Mini would become one of my bridesmaids!

Finally, we hopped onto a train back to Fort William and another back to Glasgow, going in the reverse direction on the West Highland Way. The hills are alive everywhere in Scotland, a place that will always have a piece of my heart – or heck it could have all of it if it wants!

Beautiful things: Gates and doors

There are many things I like to take photos of: clouds, reflections, and cityscapes at night, to name a few. Gates and doors are not the most popular or common subjects to photograph, but while sifting through the photos I’ve taken over the years, I realized that I’ve encountered a number of them that impressed me or are simply beautiful. I’ve gathered a small collection of these gates and doors here for your enjoyment.

Perhaps my favourite of them all are these aged but colourful gates all aligned outside the imperial palace in Hue, Vietnam. This is certainly not what most people went to the palace to see but it somehow caught my attention. There were at least five arched doorways (maybe not even gates or doors themselves?) that were lined up in a row in such a way that it was very pleasing to the sight. Almost symmetrical, but not quite perfectly, which is where its beauty lies.

The second one is this gate somewhere in Basel, the first city that I visited in Switzerland. You can only see the outline of the gate itself but two things appealed to me: the elegant details of the curves on the gate and the vivid colours on the other side. The contrast between the dark silhouette and the bright exterior further accentuated the features of the gate, making it one of the most unique ones I’ve seen.

Onto one that took on a rather different style – a door covered with graffiti in Prague. The sprayed writings on the door made it look quite messy, and in fact the door couldn’t be any more ordinary. Ironically, that’s what made it special to me because it shows that the ordinary exists, even in a popular and acclaimed tourist destination like Prague.

Let’s stay in Prague for a bit and go to the Prague Castle, where two weapon-wielding giants guard one of its gates. The one on the left chose a bat as his weapon of choice while the one on the right had a sharp object, presumably a knife of some sort. Each giant was in action, arresting what seemed like tresspassers trying to bypass castle security. Don’t mess with the giants or you might end up under their feet like that…

This door-and-window combination, photographed in Saint-Émilion, couldn’t be simpler, but its exquisiteness lies in the details. The three pots of flower, the octagonal hole in which one of them was placed, the aged walls, the intricate but delicate patterns on the curtains inside, the cobblestone street…a perfectly serene picture.

And finally…here’s a creepy gate that leads to a cemetery, I presume. I had actually completely forgotten where I took this photo and had to dig through my harddrive to find out that it was in…Edinburgh! Looking through photos of this particular trip, I believe this was taken at the Greyfriars Kirkyard. Indeed Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities in Europe and I visited it plenty of times when I was living in Glasgow. In addition to the many spectacular spots that most tourists would visit, Edinburgh certainly hides some secrets very well, like this one… 😉

What beautiful thing should I blog about next? Shadows? Clouds? Reflections? Hmm…