4th Day in Pervolia

This is the last morning session of the seminar. A group of students has taken it upon themselves to conduct an evaluation of this seminar / program, based on input from all participants. We discuss the outcome which was overall positive. Problematic were the lack of internet and some of the infrastructural arrangements (transport, food). But the students had the time to work on their thesis, to collect their thoughts, to find a new focus and determination. The evaluation goes until noon.

Then I am ready for a "cultural excursion". Early in the morning I had been at the bank in Kiti, to exchange my Cyprus pounds which I still had from 2 years ago. However they told me that the last day when they would accept them, was yesterday... now from 1.July on only selected bank branches would do an exchange of these Cyprus Pounds into Euros. So I will have to find a bank today or tomorrow... they mention a bank in Larnaca in the centre. But I had there been just 2 days ago, do not want to go there again.

Graham had recommended to go to the Troodos mountains. So that is what I do. But first I pay a visit to the Sultan Tekkesi Mosque which is right near the airport. Supposedly this is the 4th-most important sacred place for Muslems, after Mekka, Medina, and Jerusalem: a relative of Mohamed had died here and is buried.



Then on to the "Chapelle Royal", a medieval little church. The guide inside starts talking as soon as I enter, like a robot automat he points to all the fresque remains on the walls. They are indeed impressive, although not complete, with large gaps.



The further route leads through a dirt road into the mountains.



There is supposedly something interesting at Tamassos, but I follow the signs and just end up at a large reservoir lake... no further indications of any relevant object or sight there.



Driving further towards West, I decide that there is enough time to go into the Troodos area. There is a visitor centre up at 1700m elevation. It is not as hot here anymore, quite pleasant. Unfortunately the air is quite hazy, so one cannot see the coast from here. A guy from Romania offers rides on horses, and I decide to do this for 10 minutes. He walks ahead, leads the horse onto a short round trip.



Then down towards south, Limassol, back on the motorway to the bungalows. We all meet at 20:00 for a joint dinner in Pervolia.



The host from the restaurant Pyrgos recognises me - I must have made an impression when I ate there, coming from a bicycle tour, with my GPS and camera equipment...
This is our farewall dinner. Of course we have a Meze... the restaurant owner offers free wine. We also celebrate Reinhard's birthday (which is actually a day later, but who cares).

A few days off - Excursions in East Yorkshire

The weather back in Leeds is nice. Finally summer seems to be here, after 3 months of rainfall. But in Yorkshire, the temperature is always about 5 deg C colder than in the south of England. London almost seems tropical, seen from here in the North. I take a few days off, to do a few trips in the countryside and to the East Coast. Walking along the cliffs near Bridlington, going with the bicycle through York and towards Selby. A nice cherry tree near the bikeway (apparently without any owners) provides excellent refreshment fruit!


There are a few farms where you can pick your own fruit, for example the Balloon Tree Farm.



Excellent black and red currants grow there!




The coast north of Bridlington appears to bne very remote. Not many tourists, just quiet countryside, abruptly ending at the white chalk cliffs.

Excursions to Sights in Beijing

At this conference, also a series of tours had been organized for the participants, providing excellent opportunities for informal networking among the conference participants and at the same time to learn more about the Chinese culture. Several groups left in a couple of busses, and Andreas Holzinger recommended one particular tour guide because he was very entertaining. Andreas had not promised too little - Yiang Lee was very entertaining and upbeat indeed.

The busses stopped somewhere near the city centre, then we walked to the south entrance of the "Forbidden City", the old emperors' residence. It was hot and humid, and I bought a bottle of cold tea at every possible opportunity, of which there were plenty. A vast area is covered by the squares and buildings of this palace area, and the many visitors distributed themselves in the huge empty places.






After the end of the tour, our bus already approached the hotel, but then turned back one block to stop at a silk factory. There, we could see the various steps of silk production, from the cocoons to final silk bed blankets. Another guide explained this process, and afterwards every participant could buy some things, either bed sheets, blankets, or other silk products. Since I do know nothing about silk of fashion in general, this was all lost on me. I could not judge the prices, but they seemed a bit expensive to me: somewhat cheaper than in Europe, but much more expensive than appropriate for the average salary here in Beijing ($200 per month).



Another tour led to the "Summer Palace" at the Western outskirts of Beijing, where the Chinese emperors had build a large garden estate. Again similar temples, palaces, in the same style as the Forbidden City. A nice lake in the centre, with boats cruising on it.






The finish of this your ended in a pearl factory, where explanations about different types of pearls were given, together with the opportunity to purchase pearl products and other souvenirs.

An Evening in Beijing

In the morning, before the sessions, I had taken a short walk outside of the hotel and had found a large shopping centre. Bought a few bottles of water and tea. Unfortunately I did not find any sparkling water - only the plain type. So I decided to get tea instead - is very refreshing, with lemon inside, and tastes good. On the way I notice many people in uniform. Parking attendents, but also police. They stand at every corner, patrol the traffic, and probably make sure that nobody gets the idea to start a demonstration. They look suspiciously at me, as I walk with my camera and GPS around...

In the evening, after the first day of conference presentations, I was not quite sure what to do: I could prepare for my second presentation which was to be held the next day (Thursday morning), or I could take it easy and do a bit of sight-seeing. I noticed that many groups met in the hotel lobby, planningto go out - so I decided to do that too. I could have joined one of them, but I wanted to be back early, and so I was going to rush a little - others would just have slowed me down, and so I decided to go on my own.

As I walked out of the hotel, I realised that I forgot my GPS in the room. Should I go back and loose another 10 minutes? The sun was already setting. Well, without the GPS I would feel lost - also I wanted to geo-tag the pictures I was going to take, so back to the room, take the GPS, then down again.

At the taxi stop there were no taxis anymore, but a long line of people waiting for one. Well, I did not want to wait, so I proceeded further north up the road, where I had been in the morning - I would just stop any empty taxi that drove by. And there was already one! I waved, the taxi stopped, I entered. I was not quite sure where I wanted to go - my mind was set on the city centre. My former classmate from high school whom I had just met at the reunion a few days ago, Roman Scholl, had told me that there would be a great view from the Grand Hotel near the Forbidden City. So I would just go there. But I did not want to repeat the problem on the way from the airport re. the hotel name, so I would just go to a place nearby. When I mentioned "Forbidden City", the driver did not understand. So I looked at the map to find something near-by. Ho about the Tian an Men square? He should know that one. But when I said that I wanted to go there, he got serious and said "no". Then waved me out of the taxi. Ok, so much for that. Obviously it is not accepted when a foreigner wants to go to the place of the 1989 massacre...

Again I am on the hot street, the sun already almost at the horizon. Another try for a taxi. One stops. I say that I want to the Jing Shan Park, which is just north of the Forbidden City. Must be close to walk from there. He understands, but says "traffic jam", and indicates that the park is closed ("park off"). Ok, maybe somewhere else? In principle, it does not matter to me where I go, I just want to be out and see something interesting. But how to convey this intent to someone who does not understand English? I thought I just show him my map of Beijing, from thatr nice eyewitnes travel book that I bought in the morning when I left Leeds-Bradford Airport. But he looked very confused when he saw the map - it was only inb English, and he did not seem to recognise anything on it. He suggest to go to the "Summer Palace". Well, ok, he must know. Drives along the motorway, with its 4 lanes in both directions. But this seems to lead out of the town, towards West. Where is this summer palace anyway? He shows me a book, with a schematic map, and the Summer Palace was way out at the Western end of the city. That is not where I wanted to be at night. I ask him to return to go to the Jing Shan Park. He could not understand, why I wanted that, and I was not able to tell him. After a few arguments back and forth, he made a U-turn, but kept saying that the park is closed. I made hand gestures that I would walk - by walking with my fingers over the dashboard - and he seemed to understand it now. He was wondering about my GPS which I had placed on the dashboard to capture the route - I explained him the functions, and he was delighted! He noticed the speed on it, the time, and I told him about the altitude. He laughed fascinated as he saw the little track of the route we just had driven. Unfortunately I did not have a map of Beijing as background, so my tracks are the only thing shown on the display. At least I had marked the hotel, so I knew where to go back to.

He asked me where I was from - US? No, I said "Germany". He did not understand, gave me the book with a list of embassies. I found the one from the "Federal Republic of Germany" and pointed to it. "Ah", he understood and said the name of Germany in a way that I have never had it been said before, and that I also do not remember now anymore. He then mentioned "BMW". Then we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of various German car brands. Well, I mentioned the brand, and he drew the symbol of it with his finger on his steering wheel. "Audi", and he drew 4 rings. "Mercedes", and he drew a star. Ok, we could communicate!

All this interaction happened while he drove through the busy city streets, across intersections, turning left, then right, changing lanes, following bicycle rikschas fully loaded with furniture, ... Somehow I was not sure if he would drive me to the Park where I wanted to go... we went way too much Eastward. He had turned from the major 4-lane road into a smaller 3-lane road, and suddenly we went away from the 90 degree grid on a diagonal road, wiht only one lane in each direction. Very shady, trees overgrew the street, people walking busy on the sidewalk or in the street. Small buildings, 1 or 2 story high. Little shops, a lot of renovation, building. Less cars now on the road. Where would he drive me? Well, I would have the log of it on the GPS... But I was wrong: as we approached a very imposing looking Chinese building, he mentioned something, and I could actually identify it on my map: the Drum Tower. From here it would only be 2 km straight south to the centre. I asked him to let me out, I would walk from here. He drove into a side street. The whole trip cost about 4 Euro.

Finally I could do a bit of walking. Very imposing looking tower. From there I went the nest street south - it would lead straight to the (closed) park. But as I was walking, I noticed a very interesting little side street, under a gated entry. I hesitated a little - the street was narrow, with old small buildings at the sides. Wouldn't it be dangerous? Well, there were so many people walking, and they actually looked like they were just enjoying the walk. So I decided to go into this street and see where it would lead.

Small old buildings, Chinese pagoda-style roofs, some facades painted colorful. Many little stores. Some central-European-looking tourists, they looked familiar, maybe from the HCI conference? As I walk deeper and deeper into the quarter, the street becomes narrower. A very strange stench at one of the intersections. Then crossing a bridge over a canal - and there is a whole lake! This is the Quian Hai. Many restaurants are along its bank, and people walk back and forth, looking for a good deal on food. Looks quite delicious! But I am not hungry, and I would prefer to eat in a company with others. So I walk on, until the south end of the lake, at the road Di'An Men Xi Dajie. Then I return on the other bank of the lake, completely going around it.

Meanwhile it has gotten dark, and I just took the pictures with the last daylight. Now I would just go back with a taxi. Should be easier this time, as I have taken a sheet from the notes paper in the hotel - with its name and address on it, in Chinese letters. And it worked - I waved the first free taxi (recognisable at a little red LED display that hangs on the rear-view mirror), got in, and was back at the hotel in 15 minutes.

A nice evening excursion!



(more pictures are on Flickr (geo-tagged).

In the Yorkshire Dales

Again, the summer-like temperatures made us contribute a bit more to global warming - and to drive with our Chelsea Tractor (well, the small Suzuki Vitara actually is not really in that behemoth category...) up to the Yorkshire Dales. We decided to go to Grassington, where every 4 weeks on Sunday there is one of those Farmer's Markets, with local food and produce.

Grassington is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, north of Skipton (here are my pictures of it). From Bolton Abbey, a very narrow road leads to it, often only one lane wide. But I do not mind those narrow back roads, as they provide very nice sights, and they adapt very well to the hilly landscape. If one would prefer a more convenient wider road, one would access Grassington from Skipton.

We drove to the small village of Thorpe and hiked from there up into the Embsay Moor. As on top of the incline there did not seem to be anything very interesting, we walked down again and continued towards the village of Burnsall. Lots of sheep on the way, with young lambs. The walkway crosses many walls, with steps and gates that need to be closed to keep the animals in their areas. A set of pictures from that hike is here in this Flickr set.

In the Yorkshire Dales.

Hiking in Ilkley Moor

Ilkley is a small town north of Leeds, in the Wharfedale. This valley is the first of the dales, with the river Wharfe flowing from West to East. Coming from Leeds, one has to travel down a hillside to come into this valley. It takes about 35 minutes to drive from our home to Ilkley, and it is the first "recreational" place out of the city borders. Well, even closer is the Chevin Forest right on the edge of where the Leeds plain falls down into the Wharfedale, but it is still quite close to Leeds, and the airport is very close, so it is not as tranquil as when one would drive a bit further away.

Ilkley is a very nice town, with lots of small oldfashioned stores, butchers, and one of the Betty's Cafes. South of Ilkley rises the Ilkley Moor, a very picturesque area for hiking. This Saturday, we used the nice weather to hike up the steep slope from Ilkley, then move on the relatively flat tops to the highest peak of the moor at 402 m. As usual, I took a lot of pictures - collected them on my Flickr site.

View from the moor slope towards the Wells Bath House over Ilkley and the Wharfedale

Winter in the Pennines

On Friday morning, when I woke up, I saw snow flakes falling down! The last time here in Leeds I had seen those in the early days of December, when I was at the Christkindl Market on the Millenium Square. I had missed the snowfall that occured after Christmas - since I was out on travel in the US.

Saturday morning, the weather looked bright and sunny, and I decided to drive up to the Pennines, the mountain range which separates the East of Northern England from the West, to catch the last snow for this season. Driving through Huddersfield, signs indicated that the road which I intended, would be closed. However, I decided to continue anyway, just in case the sign was not correct. A second sign with the same warning - I prepared for a detour. But after I drove through Holmfirth up the slope of A6024, no road barrier blocked access. Cars came down this road, with snow on them.

On the highest point of the road, Holm Moss, I stopped to get out and take a few pictures. An icy wind from North-East almost blew me away. On the Pennines high mountains (well, high is quite relative - the peaks are about 600 m), it is always very windy. I had been here already several times during autumn, and it always seemed like the "end of the world", a moon landscape without trees, very thinly populated, large moors covered in heather. The fast moving clouds always seem to touch the peak - so when being on top, it gets quite foggy.

I continued towards south, to visit a Model Railroad Exhibition in Chapel-en-le-Frith. Coming from north, the most impressive structure is a combination of two large railroad viaducts, merging into a Y. From there I headed further East on small country roads. Narrow path, only wide enough for one vehicle; I kept driving uphill, hoping that nobody would come driving down towards me - there was no room for passing a car.

On my map I saw a marking of Mam Tor, and I was wondering what that could be. When I arrived at the parking lot, several people - all very warmly dressed, almost with mountain climbing gear - walked uphill towards the close peak. I joined them, walking through the slippery slope of wet snow. This hill turned out to be an ancient fortress, at least 3000 years old. A gorgeous view from the top - but the wind was so strong, I could lean against it and not fall. The cloud level had become denser, removing the blue sky sunny spells from the morning.

I continued to Bamford and made a turn back north to the Snake Pass. When climbing up with the car on the road, the sun came out and shined onto the white snowy plain on top. Several cars parked there, people took a stroll in the blindingly white environment - a gorgeous feeling, if it would not have been sooo cold! Again the wind made the difference - and after taking a few pictures I returned into the car to drive back to Leeds.