Road Trip to Isle of Skye and Fort William

Three days two nights. Last week, five of us went to a road trip to Isle of Sky and Fort William. We depart around 10 o’clock and go to Stirling Castle first. We did’t go inside the castle because it’s expensive :-p so we just go around it.

Stirling Castle

After that we go to Loch Ness. We use further road through Inverness while enjoying the scenery of Highlands. Going down from Inverness we take the road beside the Loch Ness. We got really great view of Loch Ness here. We stop by Urquhart Castle to take a picture there and enjoy the sun.

Urquhart Castle

From Urquhart Castle we go straight to our hostel in Isle of Skye. We stay at Saucy Mary’s Lodge for one night. After relax a bit, we continue our journey to find some Northern Light in Glendale. We don’t have got mobile reception there so we kind of loss. Instead of taking the sorter route we toke the long one and we don’t even get the Northern Light. After hours drive (and got loss) finally we can rest in bed.

In the morning we check out from the hostel and continue our journey to Old Man of Storr and Quiraing. It was quite a hike there and because we don’t have much time then we continue to drive to our hostel in Fort William. I stayed in different hostel than the rest of us because I join the trip in the last minute :D.

The Old Man Storr

Quiraing

The next morning, the last day of our trip, we go to Glenfinnan Viaduct. It’s Harry Potter filming spot (the train scene). We were lucky back then because we arrive right before the train pass the viaduct.

Glenfinnan Viaduct

From Glenfinnan we went to hike in Ben Navis. It was quite a beautiful view. After relaxing a bit we continue to Steall Falls and wow, the view was awesome. Well, it’s quite a drive and hike but I enjoy it.

Ben Nevis

Steall Falls

From the falls we went home through Loch Lomond National Park, it was magnificent. I don’t have a chance to take a picture there because I was driving so I just enjoy it behind the windshield. We got really hungry that time so we decided to have dinner at Glasgow first but after going around the town try to find parking lot for our car finally we gave up and went straight to Edinburgh. It was really fun and tiring  three days and two nights road trip.

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Edinburgh Military Tattoo

Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual show at Edinburgh International Festival (Fringe Festival) in August. Quoting from their site “Taking place on the esplanade of Edinburgh’s iconic Castle, expect an unforgettable evening of music, ceremony, theater and dance” it was indeed unforgettable evening. Not because the cold, wind, and rain that night but the performances is topnotch.

Edinburgh Military Tattoo is a collaboration of many countries; Scotland, England, America, China, India, and many more (I don’t really remember all of it :-p). The performances mostly a dance and music, well some of them are military so they “dance” on their own way. I personally like Chinese performance, Lotus Dragon Dance. They start with just a Lotus flowers and suddenly there are dragons, I’m like “where that dragons come from”.

Lotus Dragon Dnace

When watching some of the military people, I found something interesting, I found blonde performer. Well, there are lots of blonde performers but not that blonde, just check my photo below.

Blonde

At the end of the performances there are couple of fireworks display. It was beautiful although I had seen it like almost everyday because I live near the castle.

Fireworks

These are some photos and videos that I manage capture while enjoying the shows.

Aceh Meukondroe by Kande

You can watch the Aceh Meukondroe at Fringe Festival now everyday at 7:30 pm until August 31, 2015. Book ticket here.

World music from Kande, folk-ethnic group from Aceh, Indonesia. Kande’s music is strong and moving, with rich vocal texture. Kande is a modern music group, combining Acehnese traditional Islamic percussion and western music instruments like guitar and bass. Kande’s music has been performed as spiritual therapy for survivors of the 2006 tsunami in Aceh.

Mwathirika, Papermoon Puppet Theatre

Papermoon Puppet Theatre brings its exquisite blend of visual arts and theatre to Darwin Festival. This innovative Indonesian company takes an artform most often associated with children’s stories and uses it to uncover a country’s dark history in a charming fairy tale style.

Inspired by the events of the infamous ‘Year of Living Dangerously’ in Indonesia, Mwathirika explores themes of identity and society. It uncovers some of the turmoil and upheaval that occurred in the transition to modern-day Indonesia through thought-provoking stories that are highly relatable and ultimately uplifting. Using the whimsy and seeming innocence of beautiful, simple puppets and minimal dialogue, Papermoon Puppet Theatre has created a unique multimedia performance that goes beyond the actual historical events to explore the personal side of history and its effects on the family.

Original, imaginative and utterly stunning, Mwathirika tells the hidden and forbidden story of a nation. Though the events themselves were harrowing, Papermoon Puppet Theatre tells its story with such tenderness and beauty that it will linger long in the hearts and minds of those who experience it.

You can watch the Mwathirika at Fringe Festival now everyday at 10:10 pm until August 31, 2015. Book ticket here.

[DDM] Submitted

After more or less two months, finally I submitted my thesis. I can rest now ^_^