Manchester

After our Highland tour, everyone returned home except for me. I took the train to Manchester in northern England to attend the Fire Retardant Polymeric Materials conference. 

Nancy presenting a research poster about organophosphorus flame retardants in plastics. 

The conference was enjoyable not just for the scientific content but also because I got to hang out with one of my colleagues from our research lab in China, Lulu, who was also attending the conference. We had lots of fun at the conference events too, including the steam train ride and dinner at the Manchester Town Hall. 

Nancy and Lulu on an historic steam train near Manchester.

We had some fascinating cultural exchange conversations which typical went something like: 

Lulu describes something about life/culture/government in China

Nancy: Really? That sounds pretty much the same as the US.

Lulu: Really? I thought it would be different there.

Or vice versa. Topics included widening inequality between the rich and poor, mushrooming housing prices in large cities, and number of vacation days from work. Lulu was also surprised to learn that historically, westerners also preferred to have sons rather than daughters, they just weren’t restricted by the one child policy so they could keep trying until they got one. She had assumed the preference for sons was specific to Asia. In fact, life didn’t sound all that different between China and the US, except for the government censorship of Google and social media and the air quality.

Skye

The Isle of Skye is a fairytale​ island off the Western coast of Scotland in the Inner Hebrides. To get there, you must drive across the Skye bridge or take a ferry. We stayed at a lovely holiday cottage in Carbost, a small town on Loch Harport and home to the Talisker Distillery. 

The highlights of the Highland Island:

Talisker Distillery – a highland distillery that produces, in my not very discerning opinion, quite peaty whisky. We went on a tour and tasted some whisky there. The experience was made perfect by the pure Scottish accent of our tour guide.

Hendrik at the Talisker Distillery in Carbost, The Isle of Skye.

Coral Beach – we went for a nice walk to the Coral Beach at Claigan to see the Inner Seas. Technically, it is not a coral beach at all but rather, the sand is made of crushed and sun-bleached maerl seaweed. On the way there, we saw the impressive Dunvegan Castle, which is still occupied by the MacCleod clan. If we stood on the hill at the beach and looked West, we could see the faint outline of the Outer Hebrides.

Nancy wading in the frigid water of the Inner Seas​ at the Coral Beach.

Fairy Pools and Loch Brittle – the Fairy Pools are a series of waterfalls and pools flowing down from the Cullin mountains on the southern part of the island. We went for a little hike there before proceeding South to Loch Brittle, a remote sea loch with a campground. Maybe next time we should do Skye as a camping trip.

Harris, Silke, and Nancy relaxing at the Fairy Pools with the Cullin mountains in the background.

Portree – the largest settlement on Skye and an adorable little town in which to be a tourist. On the way there we saw sheep, highland cows, and peat blocks drying on pallets next to where they were harvested from a peat bog. Peat is mainly burned for heating and of course for smoking the malt for making whisky. In Portree, we enjoyed shopping for Scottish woolen goods and Harris enjoyed some ice cream despite the chilly, rainy weather.

Silke, Harris, and Hendrik at the harbor in Portree. 

Scotland Road Trip

We started our Highlands holiday with a scenic road trip from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye. Hendrik’s father, Harris was the lucky driver who got to deal with driving on the left. I was the lucky navigator who got to sit in what should have been the driver’s seat, grit my teeth, shout, “left, stay left,” whenever I felt uneasy regardless of whether he was in the correct lane or not, and try unsuccessfully to pronounce all of the place names.

Nancy, Hendrik, and Silke bracing themselves against the wind.

The weather was quintessentially Scottish, with a strong wind propelling patchy rain clouds so that we alternated between chilly rain and sunny rainbows, but mostly rain. The drive was indeed scenic, with​ the most gorgeous part around Glencoe. Our destination, the Isle of Skye, was truly magical with everything I want in a holiday destination. More on that soon.

Highlands!

We spent a wonderful week in the Scottish Highlands with my parents. The four of us met up in Edinburgh, rented a car, and drove out to the Isle of Skye. After a few days enjoying the spectacular scenery and local seafood, we spent the remainder of our Scottish holiday in the Trossachs and Loch Lomond National Park.

Over the next week or so, we’ll write blog posts filling in details like our hike up to the Faerie Pools and visit to the Talisker Distillery. Stay tuned!

-Hendrik

A not-so-delightful Dutch delivery

Sunday, I came home from two weeks of traveling and checked the mail. Amongst the advertisements and bills, I was surprised to find a sandwich in a sandwich bag. Unfortunately, it must have been there for some time because it was well decorated with multicolored​ patches of mold. I did not investigate further to determine whether it contained the typical single slice of ham or single slice of cheese. I have to wonder if this is a normal thing to find here and whether I should consider it a threat or an offering. Hendrik was unfazed, citing the last mail box surprise of a marijuana baggie (from almost exactly one year ago) as precedent for this kind of thing.