Japan.It's Bloomin marvellous.

[drron]

Some of the buildings had displays of what it may have looked like.Others were shops or food places-

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[love_the_life]

Yes the common myth is that she only managed 644.But having a local guide was invaluable.A few years after her death her parents were interviewed.She had folded 1400 cranes which her parents had kept and showed on TV.The 1000 buried with her were all from her classmates.Our guide blamed the 644 myth on the American book of her life released in 1977.
Her older brother gives speeches of her life and has been leaving some of her paper cranes at various sites including the 9/11 memorial and at Pearl Harbour.


I did find Nagasaki interesting especially the Western involvement and the role it played in Japan's history.

Thank you for that piece of information. I will pass it on to the school.

 

[drron]

A nice model of the island complete with bonsai-

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Then we walked to a 100 yen shop mrsdrron spied from the bus.Once more finding things she didn't know she wanted.If anyone wants to find it it is over the street from this parking garage-

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[OATEK]

Then we walked to a 100 yen shop mrsdrron spied from the bus.Once more finding things she didn't know she wanted.If anyone wants to find it it is over the street from this parking garage-

I have had that experience with garages in various places, especially London!! But they don't usually warn you on their sign.

 

[love_the_life]

Language is such an interesting thing!

 

[drron]

So it was back to the ship.Once again a farewell performance this time with Taiko drums.I love it-

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We see more older western style buildings here than most other places in Japan.But first a cemetery-

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[drron]

We pass an inappropriately named cruise ship-

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They obviously didn't have free laundry.
Now more port scenery most to do with ship building or repair-

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[drron]

We saw this and at first wondered what it was-

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It is in fact a new cruise ship.One of 2 being built at the Misubishi shipyards.The first,AIDAprima,sailed for Hamburg in March.This is it's sister ship.

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It looked promising for a lovely sunset-

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Unfortunately the clouds rolled in quickly and soon put paid to that-

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[drron]

We formally cleared Immigration before we left Nagasaki as we had a day trip to Korea-due to Japan having very similar maritime laws to us.We docked in Ulsan and were greeted by this which buzzed the ship several times-

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Ulsan is in fact Hyundai City.Not just cars but extensive ship building and other enterprises.It makes up more than 50% of Ulsan's economy.Surprisingly at least 75% of the cars you see are Hyundais.So some shots of the port-

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After clearing Immigration a colourful welcome-

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We set off for Gyeongjiu a UNESCO World Heritage site.The outskirts of Ulsan is just massive high rises-

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Wonder what they stock here?

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And soon our first cherry blossoms-

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[drron]

First stop was the Bulguksa temple.This was originally built in 528,reconstructed 751,burnt down by the Japanese in the 1650s and renovated many times since.

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It is set in a large park and that is the first gate you go through.

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Then you come to the main gate-

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[drron]

There was still a bit more park to go through before reaching the temple buildings-

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You can no longer use the Sacred steps to get into the temple you have to use a side entrance-

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[karen blancfield]

The use of colour seems quite different to those in Japan? These are Korea, aren't they? I haven't been there.

 

[drron]

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[drron]

Yes this is South Korea.Definitely they like colour and a real contrast to Japan.More like Chinese colours.Also a love/hate feeling to the cherry blossoms.They do have a festival but the trees were planted by the Japanese and they don't really get along.

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The belief here is that if you can put a stone on a pile of rocks and it stays there your wish will be granted.

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Lots of people making a wish.In the second of these 3 the little rock on top of the yellowish rock is mine.

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The head monk lives behind the red door.Doesn't look too bad-

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[drron]

Bell,blossoms and butterfly-

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Now we were off to lunch.

 

[drron]

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The cutout in the building represents the 9 story pagoda built in the 7th century which was then the tallest wooden structure in the world.But in 1238 the Mongols burnt it down.The river was being repaired-

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It was cherry blossom festival time and they were having their marathon-

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The fellow in red was in poor shape.

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They should have gone in here-

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[drron]

Whilst the dancing was going on we feasted Korean style-

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[drron]

The colour of the Koreans was a definite contrast to the Japanese-

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Time to walk of lunch-

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[drron]

Cherry blossoms beside the restaurant-

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We now set off for our next stop Tumuli park.The traffic was horrendous.Not only was it the cherry blossom festival and marathon but also a national holiday plus an election in 3 days time.However there was something else unforeseen.It was Canola Flower festival time as well-

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This young woman is reviewing the selfie taken as they came to a quick stop-

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On the way we passed the oldest astronomical observatory in the world built in the 700s before seeing our first mound-

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And then we arrived at Tumuli with it's collection of burial mounds from the Silla dynasty-

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[drron]

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One of the tombs is open.One of the reasons these tombs are important is there construction.inside is a large collection of rocks designed to collapse if anyone tries to dig there way in-

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Which means a lot has been found inside-

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Even a gold slipper.

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