Hanging From a Tree in Hsinchu

On the day after the kindy Christmas show, the boys had to put on their warmest clothes for a trip to Hsinchu. A cold front had hit not long after they went to bed on Friday night and by Saturday morning it was very cold, by Taiwan standards, just 10C. After a slow train trip to Hsinchu, the boys were quite happy to be able to walk around freely while waiting for Mum's Friend Ya-ting to pick them up.

While they waited the boys found a game to play, as children do.

Craig's pretty confident when walking on this type of thing these days.

After being picked there was lunch at the campus of National Chiao Tung University where, once upon a time, Craig and Graham's Mum was a graduate student.

Then they took their luggage to an on-campus "guesthouse". Getting in was a bit tricky.

But, once they were in, Craig was very quick to inspect the bed he was going to sleep in that night.

Immediately downstairs from the guesthouse was half a dozen shops that included a convenience store with a "dining" area right beside it.

The boys were then taken on a walk around the campus. Graham found some gravel to play in and kicked his way right through to the mud underneath. His shoes were filthy.

They walked passed the building where Mum was a student.

Apparently the building hasn't changed much but the trees outside have grown a bit.

They also walked passed some outdoor volleyball courts where Mum used to play.

But it was cold outside and Hsinchu was living up to its nickname as a "windy" city. So, the boys took a break back in the guesthouse. However, Graham became bored with the Japanese animated movie on TV very quickly.

So, he was taken out for another walk to try to wear him out.

The extra exercise must have worked because Graham slept well and was very cheerful while Mum dressed him the next morning.

It was still 10C and windy outdoors and not much warmer in the fast food store where they had breakfast. It was the type of fast food place that gives aways toys like this with children's meals.

After breakfast, Craig was full of energy.

Then came the main event of the weekend trip. There was no one at the meeting place so Mum and Craig went to see if some people standing around nearby knew what was going on. Graham felt left out and quickly followed.

It turned out that everyone was hiding indoors out of the wind!

Graham was a bit upset that Mum had run away from him so he needed a bit of attention.

There was a demonstration of the activity Craig was to take part in. The boy in the demonstration looked very experienced. He handled all the ropes and knots very efficiently. Craig's Dad's first thought was that it was going to be far too complicated for Craig and he would not get off the ground.

The coach was very friendly and encouraging while putting a harness on Craig.

Then Craig received a run-through on how to lift himself using the ropes.

Mum was there to lend a hand.

And, lo and behold, inch-by-inch Craig started to climb!

A fair, if unnecessary, comparison could be made with the slightly older boy on the right of this photo. He was in his harness earlier than Craig but just couldn't get going.

Climbing up the rope involved putting all his weight on one rope while sliding a knot up on the other and then reversing that process. Weight had to be transferred completely from feet to harness (holding his bum) and vice-versa or no height would be gained.

The knots in the rope below Craig's feet are safety knots that would stop his fall in the event of a catastrophic failure of the knot holding the harness. He's got a second safety knot because he climbed a bit.

Other more experienced children were able to climb quite high, albeit very slowly.

After a while, there were children hanging from trees all over the place.

Quite a few kids only managed to get as high as Craig and then gave up. So, parents had to be quick to get photos.

Eventually, it was time for lunch. The meal was very kindly provided by people at Mum's Friend Yating's church. It must have been good because all the kids had heaps of energy afterwards.

There was a brief rest period back at Mum's Friend Yating's home.

The kids were given fruit while watching TV, allowing aduts to chat.

Then it was off to a school that the boys have played at before.




Craig quite likes this jungle gym.

And Graham was being looked after very well.

Craig's Dad was too slow to get photos of Craig climbing up one side and then down the other of this wall.

Then, it was time to go home. Poor Graham had missed his afternoon nap and he'd been outdoors in a cold wind for many more hours than he normally would at home. He really needed a nap. Unfortunately, the platform of the High Speed Rail station at Hsinchu is just about the windiest place in the world. So, he needed all the protection from the wind that his Mum could give.