Asked for it.

Reverse psychology from a lonely sign?

stolen photo re-stolen

Unlike other collections of random stolen animal photoes, this blog seems to stick to its theme. Prepare to awwww. And it features marmots!

27.10: Aggy has been exploring. Look, I found a chocolate orange!

The carefully sectioned, neatly wrapped kind of treasure my parents’ generation got when they were kids and treats were still a bit of a big thing, the kind that disappeared because it was less cost efficient than stackable KitKat bars. (They sure did have some good stuff in the old days. But they didn’t have Internet.)

The taste? Semi-crappy KRAFT cocoa. Same guys that slaughtered the homely Freia chocolate. 2008 sucks.

Still it feels like cheating to eat it alone, it’s so shareable with all the tiny sections.

What more, I found a secret computer room! I vaguely remembered there was supposed to be three computer rooms in the hall centre, but I’d only seen two and they were full. Driven by curiosity or desperation, I worked my way to the basement, through a door with a PRIVATE-sign, and after two more doors and a fire exit I found a dark and empty computer hall. Kind of spooky actually…

Note to self: Shops may be open on Sundays, but that doesn’t mean they’re open long on weekdays! I’ve come to locked doors at five past six so many times you’d think I’d learned.

26.10: Today has been a dull day. Someone has stolen the Internet! [Pause for gasp]

I have (seriously) been to the local centre five times today to check e-mail, find plane tickets, pay bills, download lecture notes, check e-mail again, etc, etc… So I’m officially an Internet addict, I gladly admit it. Better than TV any time. Internet is my teacher, my telephone, my photo album, my radio, TV and newspaper, and by means of this very blog, my showcase.

The biggest loss, apart from the comfort of knowing that the world literally is at my fingertips, is clearly the endless source of useful and very useless information, instant delivery right on your desktop, called Wikipedia. Tachyons? There is a comprehensive wiki. The inner workings of topoisomerase IIB for the next essay – wiki knows. How to make a shamanic love charm out of a piece of wood, a feather and a few beads? Wiki is not sure but is happy to direct you to wonderhowto.com. How long to boil a soft-yolk egg while 1000 meters above sea level? Well, I haven’t checked as I’m friggin’ disconnected, but I’ll bet my buttons wiki knows.

Frequently in the more technical biology articles, Wiki clearly has no clue what it’s talking about. It breaks my heart every time I see it. Maybe one day I’ll do something about it, become a Wikipedian. I’m not quite there yet.

- breathtaking. It’s “only” a lake, but if you appreciate nature as much as I do, do put it on your list. The Scottish wilderness is much like the Norwegian but rougher, more beaten. The ruin on the shore is a beauty; I will not expand on that as I find myself gauging clichés.

We were as lucky as to find the loch with rain lashing sideways – not only because we got the area largely to ourselves with other tourists hustling in the cafe; the gray disturbed water with foam tops added to the special feeling, the rainstorm emphasizing the mightiness. Who knows what lives down there!

In a sheltered spot, I was lost in meditation for I don’t know how long, feeling the intensity and absorbing the greatness of the surroundings. Holy cow, did I feel invincible!

Not quite as appealing was the attitude of some of the staff at the visitor centre, a slick modern building that is the only entrance to the ruins, and where the only way is through the souvenir shop. Even though all 4 had just bought something in the cafe, a woman started yelling at us without warning for opening a packed lunch. She spoke to us as though we were three years old, and when we asked where we could eat our food she pointed out in the storm. She can’t have seen the ‘hospitality assured’ sign right by the table.

Also, as I expressed my interest in a beautiful replica tapestry, she told me the price with a noticeable emphasis, as though thinking I didn’t have the money. It’s very possible I looked like I didn’t, after all we were backpacking. How could she know the backpacker had an art budget? It’s very fascinating how different one is treated based on appearance.

The whole visitor centre schmentre was a sad story if you ask me; a slick modern building through which everyone was herded, mostly consisting of the huge souvenir shop. We all know tourists are to be vacuumed for money, but please make it a bit more subtle? If you plan to go to the ruins of Urquhart, I’ll advise you to come by boat so you land directly on the shore and don’t have your experience ruined (pun intended) by the commerce.

No monsters, other than this guy.

Hedge Nessie

Advised that “With a spoon” was the place to eat, we had dinner at Witherspoon. Amazing place, I’m sorry we couldn’t spend the night there but some in the party were feeling unwell.

Actually I thought I wouldn’t get to Loch Ness this year, as I missed the organized tour. My emerging inner claustrophobic had interventions. (150 people on an all-day coach tour, yikes!) Hadn’t it been for Caroline, at whose cafe table I dumped down a week ago as all tables were taken (the wonderful random meetings!) I probably never would have gotten to it. Thank you hunny!

Everything looks brighter when seen through a brick wall.

I spent the weekend at Ruigh Aiteachain, a bothy in the Eastern Highlands, with the Shared Planet, popularily called the hippie society.

Not so high, actually

SP’ers are slow, and we were on wheels two hours late and it was pit dark when we were there. Luckily I got hold of a torch in the last minute - and not any torch, it originates from a Thai monastry. Without the buddhist torch the journey would surely have been an interesting one, as we had to cross a number of rivers. All creds to the guys who jumped in and ferried the rest of us over!

Brrr!

The most special moments were when we stopped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and got out of the cars for a break. It was already so dark that we could clearly see the Milky Way above. Highland music was playing on the car stereo, and all of a sudden everyone was dancing, jumping around frenetically to the quick tunes. Dave, photoes?

When we arrived at the bothy in the middle of the night, the most awesome party was already there partying. Very scottish, very sharing and quite drunk. Us hippies stuck to lettuce.

crunch

Note the glass on a stem.

Pretty inside door:

Pretty door

This guy was staring at us from the mantelpiece:

The dead deer

There was a stag meeting outside the bothy at night, they were discussing quite loudly.

Next day we went up Dram Nam Bó to Mullach Clach à Blhàir (all names in the area are in Gælic).

Map

Bothy is in the green area.

It’s windy on the tops!

windy

Deerspotting

A horse tried to eat my boot. Dreamy photo thanks to the mist.

The climate is friendly, the veretation is friendly, and people you meet while hiking are so friendly. We got to know a number of interesting people, among them a Polish photographer who said the best photo he’d ever taken was of one of the horses grazing in the area. I think it must be this photo.

A sign I somehow wanted to follow:

This way to lost

Awesome shoes!

The shoes.

Views:

whoah

Most of the trees looked something like this, great in their miserableness.

Pilates is SO last month. The new variation over working out is obviously Nia. A weird mix of just about every other gym class, according to Nia Now the influence comes from no less than nine styles: Tai Chi, Tae Kwon Do and Aikido, Jazz dance, modern dance and duncan dance, Moshe Fedenkrais, Alexander technique and finally Yoga. The latter three referred to as healing arts.

Quite different, more fun than mindless aerobic classes and judging from my sore legs the day after it definetely works. The soft electronical music is repelling me, though.

I’ve spent tonight browsing Care 2 , a huge resource of tips and thoughts concerning green living, animal welfare and human rights. Not all things there are for me - I consider talking with dolphins more than a bit lofty - but the site is full of gems. Blessings!

There’s at least seven different UK coins, and it’s very easy to get tricked on the change (luckily the scots seem to be honest, if overly economical at times). I’ll just warn you about the 50 pence: It’s a large octahedral coin, but if someone tries to give you one that’s really abnormally large, over an inch across, don’t accept it because it’s old and invalid and you can’t use it.

Don’t let the engraving ‘new pence’ fool you. Bah!

Not to even get started on the notes. The only way you can know which note you have is really to read the number, as the Scottish notes are different from the English, which are different from the Welsh and north Irish -and they all circulate featuring all kinds of colors and faces. Eldorado for false money?

The other day I carried home a bucketful of veggies, some I’d never even seen before. There were green tindarine-like citrus (I thought they were limes, and was quite surprised to find they were orange on the inside), a purple / green leafy thing I’m still not quite sure about -loads. So much I could barely get it home, and all organic. Price? £5. How on earth is that possible?

Contents of vegbag

Let me introduce: The vegbag. The good people at Shared Planet buy in bulk and distribute and that’s how the price can be so friendly. (No, I’m not working undercover for the scheme, I’m genuinely impressed.)

The abundance of healthy food sets the scene for many a shared dinner.

We also played around with colors decorating the bags. Photo coming once I’ve tracked down the recognisable people…