Journey of Life: August 2008

We finally made it to the Highlands this past weekend for the Bank Holiday. Wow. I must say that you have never experienced Scotland until you have been to the Highlands! The scenery is like what you would see on postcards and calendars. Shades of green that were so pure that the white sheep/lambs, and the brown, black and white cows pop!

True to a road trip, we made several unplanned, random stops along the way.

We were greeted by many quaint old towns on the way there and on the way back...some that existed since the 1700's filled with castles and palaces. Everything is just so beautiful.

Our Bed & Breakfast, recommended by a colleague, was another treat! The lady who owned the B&B, Jenny, was over 70 years old but doesn't look a day older than 60. She speaks 6 languages and has climbed Mt. Everest! She runs the 4 bedroom and 3 cottage B&B with barely any help. Not only that she owns a handful of tame Highland cattle, 4.5 horses, 1 black cat (called Little Black),

tame, roam around freely in the property and can be pet!! I loved it!! Not only that, her property sits secludedand 2 dogs. All the animals are (private lake front property) with exclusive Loch-front view. Spectacular, stunning, amazing, breath-taking view!

On the way back, we stumbled upon a real-life modern day shepherd with a staff and sheep dogs. Then we got to witness another shepherd in action with his dogs. Beyond Cool!

As we were leaving, Dylan noticed 2 sheep running loose from the pack right behind our car...we were afraid they would get run over by other cars but at the same time were afraid that they were going to charge our car!! At the end, we managed to herd them back to the field with our pseudo sheep

dog - our Saab! ha ha. Whether they made it back with the pack, we don't know. we can only hope. Funny enough, the parable of the lost sheep came into mind -- "Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Luke 15: 3-7 Hallelujah!

If you ever come visit us, forget the castles and palaces, you MUST visit the Highlands!

A lot of the photos were taken from a moving car so the pictures really doesn't do much justice to real beauty.

Cattle calling out to the Virgin Mary?

On a side note, yes, the Saab is the get-around-town car we bought a couple of months ago. :-)

Every year around this time, Edinburgh host its Fringe Festival. The whole city turns into a major tourist destination! It is said that roughly 1 million tourist will descend upon Edinburgh during this month-long festival. The festival hosts many comedy acts, plays, shows, gospel choirs, circus etc. There are so many shows to choose from but from the title you can guess that we decided to watch the Chinese State Circus (and the Soweto Gospel Choir tomorrow) this year. It was what I expected, having seen a number of Chinese Circus acts in the past (mostly on TV though), but border lining cheesy towards the end...you'll see w