MURORAN JAPAN

 

When we arrived, the whole town was expecting us. It is not often that such a large Cruise Ship comes here so the town laid on a free shuttle bus service from the ship in to the city and throughout the city there were ceremonies laid on for the tourists,

As our tour was not until the afternoon, we hopped aboard one of these buses and ended up in the tourist office where there were demonstrations of flower arranging, Origami, a tea ceremony etc. It was really quite well done!

Elsie was chosen to be the model for the flower arranging .... a rose among thorns????

They sure do nice work!!!

The kids couldn't quite get over the size of Elsie and me ... height of course!!!

This was a little back street but notice just how clean everything is. This was a Sunday Morning so no local inhabitants were out and about.

A street side cigarette machine ... not hard for anyone to get smokes in this country

A local toilet ... a "stoop to poop" but again .... notice how clean it is. Compared to those we saw on previous trips in Asia and Africa this is truly a "5 Star facility". Though just how you are expected to get up after ... no grab handles and the front wall is awfully close ....

Mount Usu ... active volcano and erupted last in 2000. You can see the steam rising from the sides

Not as long as the Grouse Gondola, but GREATFULLY accepted instead of having to climb ...

A view of Lake Toya from the top. We drove by the lake on the way back to the ship

Basic information ... if you can read it.

The obligatory I was there and was very pensive ... shot

After 10 days of vegging on the boat .... STAIRS .... YECH .... Each of these ports had lots and lots and lots and lots of stairs ....

Joe at the top ... recovering ...

And the view .... more steam outlets but is the view worth the climb????

This is where the eruption in 2000 happened

Looking down on the Gondola and Lake Toya

Volcanic rocks produced in 2000 eruption

Time to head back down .... now the eternal question .... is it harder on the ole bod to go down or to go up .... hmmmm

Time for a couple of "I was there shots"

I've fully recovered because I knew that down below .....

Oops ... Elsie grabbed me for yet another "I was there"

Arrived down below and there was .... BEER!!!!!

Lake Toya ... hot springs holiday resort coupled with the largest swans I have ever seen

See what I mean????

Early morning street picture. Notice that the traffic was not too bad ... yet

The roof of the tour bus .... cloth valences with doodads ...

Inside the Museum ... interesting place I guess ...

This is Ivan, of course, our guide. His Dad was an officer in the Russian Pacific Fleet and he was raised a good militaristic son. If there was still a Pacific Fleet, I know where he would have gone!

Elsie thought that this was somehow ... kinky ... until I had to explain to her that the Russian Bear was fighting the Asian Tiger ... very symbolic eh what???

Very well done ancient Indian Carvings ... Inuit....

The museum had several diorama picturing life for these ancient peoples

And here it is ... a Czarist Telephone booth ... Looks like an alter, but perhaps it is in a way???

The Official Czarist Samovar for the city

Cars are not too busy but notice the sidewalk

Downtown Vladivostok

American Capitalism at its best in Vladivostok. I assume the food is an Ukrainian Sausage??? With Coke???

Now the traffic is nuts ... it's about 10:00 and it is actually faster to walk

There are people in these cars but they are waiting for someone to cry uncle and back away

Vladivostok yacht basin ... what would Stalin say????

Our Guide, Ivan, loved guns and anything military. He swept us through the art gallery but we stopped at each one of these and he recited the model, range shell size etc of each one.

Got a little tedious after a while

More guns in the fort museum ... again we spent a long time there discussing the stopping power of each one

Paradoxically to the left of the guns is this ....

and outside another one that has steel doors that could be closed if an attack is eminent

Vladivostok harbour .... I suppose that I would have been shot as a spy 20 years ago if I took this picture. The whole town was a forbidden zone for foreigners. This is the home of the much vaunted Russian Pacific Fleet

Just where they were now, I have no idea.

This is the Diamond Princess and the only Russian war ship in the harbour ... does size say something?

Notice the weather ... I thing that we saw the sun in Alaska and could breathe the air there. Here and for the remainder of this trip, we were emersed in pollution!!!!!

Another view of the harbour

Street scene as we walked down to the boat

Like the Russian Bus, the Koreans love to have valences and dangly things around the windows

Pusan reminded me a lot of Vancouver

No, this is NOT Stanley Park

This bridge -- the Gwangan Grand bridge -- looks a lot like the Lions Gate except the whole thing is 4 1/2 miles long

Obligatory "I was there shot"

We were on our way to the APEC Conference Centre. It was built for the 2005 conference

Even though the air here was sure better than in Valdivostok, some people cover up

Neat building right on the water.

This is the only thing the building has been used for. In fact, it is still set up with all the furniture complete with the names of participating countries and officials. A lot of money for one conference but apparently it will be used again in 2010

Ran into this wedding ceremony

Beautiful statuary

No, that is not the German Swastika. It is reversed from what the Nazi Party used and is one of the Buddhist religion holy symbols

Off to a Buddhist Temple --- Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. Of course there are over 100 steps to get down and up !!!!

One of the few Temples situated on the water

It is nestled in a little bay

People use the grounds as a recreation area

The temple of Haedong Yonggungsa

The Buddha

This is one of the joys of travel ... or what you see when you don't have a gun .... Here a contingent from Austria --- complete with lederhosen --- visit. They sure stuck out in a crowd

The buildings are in fantastic condition

Beautiful Day to wander around here

I never did find out why all these "Middle Earth" figurines were put here

OK Elsie insisted on these two shots

.... what can I say ... no similarity .... RIGHT?????

And then it was .... back up the stairs

At the top of the stairs there were lots of little shops selling tourist trash and this one --- all these are fried insects of some type or another

Back in Pusan, we headed for the huge open air fish market for a look around

Every thing beautifully displayed

And REALLY Clean

It went on for blocks with people picking up tonight's dinner --- in very fresh condition

I should have bought shares in Starbucks years ago.

A lonely street merchant

Our tour of Kagoshima began with a tour of the Iso Gardens ... two VERY long hours wandering around a manicured park waiting for it to rain. Fortunately it held off.

I guess it was nice but .... TWO HOURS????

ran out of things to take pictures of!!!

Well .... TWO HOURS??? I was ready to go snakey

Hmm mm -- TWO HOURS of a 4 hour trip?

Heading onto a little island that has a very VERY active volcano. In fact, the children going to and from school have, by law, to wear a hard hat.

We waited for the thing to blow ....

On the ferry boat ride we saw this Class C made in BC. It did have Korean Plates but we never made contact as the trip was short and with the age of the people on the bus ... loading took some time

Mount Sakurajima did blow just after we got back to the ship

When we arrived at 5:30am we were shaken out of bed by these huge drums and a very elaborate presentation. These cities were not on the list of world class tourist attractions, but they sure went over board to welcome us.

Dalian is a very modern Port City ... but notice the air pollution

Lots of green trees though

The sun does try to shine ... we were horrified with this .... little did we know what Beijing and especially Xi'an has to offer

Lots of green grass ... this was a kite flying park but everyone flew kites while standing on the concrete

For such a large city there were few people in the Parks on a Sunday

Even the streets were not overly busy

How do you get used to Chinese wiring

Lots of beautiful statues throughout the parks

This looked like a huge skateboard park but it wasn't ... just an architectural "thing"

Again not many using the beautiful facilities

Colourful eh???

Interactive statuary

This guys job is to make sure all the white stones under the bushes are organized just so ....

Comfortable buses !!!!

Visited a park where weddings took place and pictures were taken. I thought this was a great use of the brides train!!!!

Lots of couples "tying" the knot

These are little mechanical toys that move around the park

You can actually -- if you are a child -- ride this mechanical horse .... I wanted to but .. no ... discrimination I was going to yell...

Explanation of the statues

And ... the statues

This is a picture of Aloha Deck right outside our door ... in the distance --- about 1,000 feet is the pointy end of the ship

We always book the cheapest room we can and hope for an upgrade. It worked on the last two voyages but we were outsmarted this time. We called this "The Box". Watching TV never was so uncomfortable

Small eh???

There was space to hang you clothes though

The "Head" ... now before the smart comments ... yes I did fit ....

And I fit in the shower too!!!!!