south korea

busan, south korea
busan fish market
street restaurants
our travels took us to busan in south korea. and what a shock. where nagasaki was warm, peaceful and unbelieveably clean, busan was noisy, smelly, dirty,cold and a total assault on the senses. it was also amazing. packed full of people, there was a distinct lack of westeners. as such, we drew rather alot of attention and i experienced a little of what it would be like to be a celebrity. i didn't enjoy it. being stared at all the time made me very self concious and i was sure i had food on my face, or my flies were undone or something similar. the fish market in busan is fantastic. they are all alive and freshly caught and i've never seen such weird and wonderful creatures. can anyone tell me what the pulsating pink headless things that look disturbingly like penis's are? i couldn't find anyone that spoke english well enough to tell me!

too cute

these lovely little cuties performed local traditional dances for us on our last day in japan. they were so good for being so young, i'm sure my attention span wasn't this good when i was a child. bless them!

peace please

visiting the site of the atomic bomb in nagasaki caused a mixture of emotions. peaceful, sad, still, shocked, angry. the sculpture in the top picture was made to go in the peace garden that now occupies ground zero. when the bomb was dropped, everything for miles and milea and miles was destroyed, everything disintergrated. in part of the park now, there are the remains of what used to be the prison. all that was left of the immediate area is a few bricks and a little bit of twisted metal. the sculpture reminds people that such an atrocity will not be tolerated again. you can see that his right arm points to the sky. he is pointing at where the bomb actually exploded - before impact with the ground. his left arm is poised over the earth with signals that he is ready, ready to defend his piece of earth, his country and his people.

it was really moving being there, you are forced to think about the horrors that occur, then and now and in turn think about the innocent people who lost and loose their lives. it's very sad but very peaceful. everything now is concentrated on peace. the origami peace doves that schools send for the memorial are so beautiful in their colours and precision and quantities and the gardens are so quiet that it's easy to forget what it all stands for.

light of my life

the imperial hotel, osaka

nagasaki, japan
busan, south korea

as well as the traditional lanterns that you'd expect to find in asia, the chandaliers that were in the breakfast room at the imperial hotel in osaka were stunning. blown glass in beautiful colours made them cast colourful shadows around the room as the sunlight hit them. and i just wish that i had been around at night time to see these lanterns in the bottom picture alight. it's things like these lanterns that remind you where you are in the world, as it is definatly not something you come across at home.
i love them and wish for a garden big enough to fill with them on a warm summers night for a party....sigh.

nagasaki, japan

how awesome to be able to walk down a high street and be warm and relaxed and peaceful. to be able to stop for a while and watch thousands of koi swimming about without a care in the world. to be able to (gingerly) walk across a stepping stone bridge and not fall in. and how if you take a right turn off that highstreet and walk up a hill for 30 seconds you come across the most beautiful temples imagineable. hidden deep in the hustle and bustle are quiet oasis' of calm and tranquility. in the top picture you can just see a buliding the the right of the gates of the temple. it's multi storey carpark!!! but once inside you'd never know the city was out there!