Point of impact

Nagasaki peace park in the district of Urakami. On the 9th of August 1945, the A-bomb missed the target and exploded several kms. north of the city centre over this district. Parc de la bombe atomique de Nagasaki dans le district d’Urakami. Le 9 août 1945, la bombe a raté sa cible et a explosé…

Dejima

At first a peninsula, then an artificial island and now almost lost in the modern city of Nagasaki. Dejima was a European trading post in Japan from the 1630’s until 1853. The island was built by local merchants, initially for the Portuguese, but soon dominated by the Dutch, who were never-the-less kept at arms length…

Mount Inasa

A summit near the heart of the Nagasaki. Visible from everywhere in daytime, attractive views from the summit at night. A ropeway gets you to top. Un sommet de 350 m dominant le coeur de la ville de Nagasaki. Visible de partout de jour, point de vue attrayant de nuit. Monter par le “ropeway” (télépherique)…

The market

Fresh stuff in the market. How about some live silkworms for an appetizer ? Produits frais au marché. Des vers à soie comme apéro ?

Boats in the bay

Riddle : How many boats make too many boats ?? Une seule question : quand est-ce que cela fait trop de bateaux ??

The bay in monochrome

“Descending Dragon” bay. On this day in the bay of Halong there was no sun, no fire-breathing dragon and no visibility. The pictures of the bay in bright sunshine with dramatic contrast on Google images can not be real. La baie de Halong. Cette fois, pas de soleil, pas de visibilité et pas de dragon…

Nanxiang oldtown and the Tan Garden

A classical Chinese garden in Shanghai, dating from the late Ming dynasty, nicely restored, beautiful to visit and very peaceful with almost no tourists. Notes on the entrance ticket : “Tan garden was the private garden of Li Liufang, the scholar and artist in Ming Dynasty. During that time, it was the place for poets…

River(side) scenes

The karst topography was only part of the show. Les montagnettes de karst avaient de la concurrence.

Karst topography

The Lijiang river from Guilin to Yangshuo : strange karst mountains and topography. A day in the mist… La rivière Lijiang entre Guilin et Yangshuo : pics calcaires de type karstique. Un jour de brouillard…

A farm in Yangshuo county

In the Guilin area of Quangxi province, the town of Yangshuo is a very popular stopping point for the boats that cruise down the Li river through the strange and fascinating karst hill formations. Apart from the river tourist trade, many people make a living by farming. This village near Yangshuo has many osmanthus tree…

Qingdao waterfront

Qingdao : A former German trading post and concession on the northeast China coast, famous for beer, now a huge city, one of the ten largest in China. People still dig for shellfish at low tide on the seafront. Qingdao : Sur la côte nord-est de la Chine, autrefois un comptoir commercial allemand , renommée…

Kagoshima Bay

Kagoshima : a city with a volcano on it’s doorstep, just a couple kilometers out in the bay. Smoke and ash are a daily diet here. Kagoshima : La vie en face du volcan, 2 ou 3 km au loin dans la baie. Fumée et cendres sont au menu quotidien de cette région.

Flora in the steam room

In Beppu, the hot springs and steam serve many purposes. One of them is to heat floral pools and greenhouses. A Beppu, la vapeur et les sources chaudes servent à de multiples fins y compris à chauffer des serres permettant de cultiver une flore tropicale.

Boiling mud and steam

The Hells of Beppu: Hot water, steam, boiling mud, everywhere. Steam used for cooking, hot water used for bath houses, many pools too dangerous to get too close. This is Beppu, a small city on the north east coast of Kyushu island, southern Japan. Hard to believe the pressure cooker underground has not blown its…

National Palace Museum

This museum in Taipei contains some of the very best pieces from the art collection of the former Chinese imperial family. The pieces in this museum were moved many times during the turbulent period between the Mukden incident in 1931 and the evacuation to Taiwan in late 1948. To prevent them falling into the hands…

The view from 101

Taipei 101. The world’s tallest tower from it’s completion in 2004 until the opening of a taller building in Dubai in 2010 and first building to exceed 1/2 km in height. The view from the top is stunning and equally hard to photograph due to barriers, glass, etc. Taipei 101. Le plus grand gratte-ciel au…