Shuri Castle - Hana City - Okinawa - Japan

Hana City in Okinawa has a very long history. It used to be the center of the Ryukyu kingdom. When it was founded differs from source to source but sometime around 14th or 15th century should be about right. 

Here is a model of what it looked like around the 18th century. 

Walking the road up to the castle you passed a whole bunch of gates. 

The castle was surrounded by a couple of wide walls. 

Shuri Castle is still being resturated after it was totally blown to pieces during the battle of Okinawa in the end of World War II

Due to its historical value it it a world heritage site and Japanese high school students can be seen all over the place.

Stepping through the gate...

There were probably some more guards way back then... 

And after one gate...

there was another gate.

Only two more gates. 

But in the end you came to this... 

Imagine that you are standing in the middle of the square then you would see the left building on your left. The building straight forward would be in front of you... and so on.

The reason two buildings are painted and one isn't is because one hasn't been painted yet. Its because the two painted buildings were inspired by Chinese culture and the gray one by Japanese culture.

This is how they measured time. To make it more accurate they also used a devise with running water. They didn't have that thing now though.

On the Chinese inspired buildings you could find dragons...

In one of the buildings there was a model of what it was like when the king celebrated stuff. 

All the people in the square were important people in the Ryukyu kingdom. The more important they were the closer to the castle they were.

At some point in time the Ryukyu king acknowledged the Chinese emperor as his superior and after that whenever there was a succession of kings in the kingdom there was a representative of the Chinese emperor who bestowed the title upon the new king. 

I was lucky to visit a day when they had a free show

It was a show of ... plip.. plop... plip... plop.... Kind of.... 

But it was great :) 

Here is what the kings throne looked like.

And this is what his crown looked like.

And this was what his garden looked like. It is said that his guests where particularly impressed by this part of his castle.

And now the "been there and done that" - photo.

If ever your journey takes you to Okinawa.. 

You have to go see this place.

Well everybody. 

Stay awake. 

Monsanto is out to steal your right to plant the seeds you want to plant.

Don't let them do it.

Love Ove.

Naha City - Okinawa Island - Japan.

Hi there. 

This time it was really a very long time since I wrote anything on here. 

This has several reasons. One being my classes in Chinese. Another being I have been busy editing photos. 

But here it comes. The first post in a very long time. 

So I had to leave Taiwan to renew my visa. Often people go to HongKong for this reason but I wanted to see something else since I have been to HongKong already. 

I took a flight to the island of Okinawa and the first thing that I encountered in Okinawa was this MONORAIL. Quite cool I think.

Stepping off the Monorail I made my way to the hostel that would be my home for two nights. 

I was greeted by a man who hadn't seen the inside of a shower for quite some time and he showed me the place. The place hadn't seen any cleaning devices the last decade. I was happy that I had brought my sleeping bag so that my skin didn't have to touch the bed and its covers. 

After I had put my backpack on the bed I went out to see some of the sites. One thing that I noticed quite soon was the amount of vending machines. They were everywhere. Like in this park. 

I saw some plants...

Naha City was like a Mediterranean tourist center. It had all the souvenirs you possibly could need and bars in every corner. I was told that the bars were used by the locals though. After the job finished in the evening most people went to the bar instead of home. There they killed a couple of hours before making it back home to their families. 

I hear that one thing I had to try while in Okinawa was a dish called Sokisoba. I didn't know what it was or where to find it. I asked a couple of guys where I might find it and one person out of the four I talked to actually new some English. The average level of English in Japan is very low. That was actually one of the best things with the hostel I lived at. They all spoke English. 

I did find the Sokisoba. It was funny though. I put my money into a vending machine. The vending machine gave me a plastic card. I gave the card to the woman behind the bar disk and she gave me some Sokisoba. 

I saw a tree.

And an indoor market.

I made it an early night. Went back to the hostel and there I talked away some hours with the old owner of the place. He was an old Japanese gentleman who had lived in Canada for some time. It was funny how across continents and age, our ideas about life and things were the same.

Since I have edited the other photos that I took in this trip it wont take long before there will come yet another post.

Stay awake.

Love Ove

With David And Amelie in WuLai ... I think...

Hi there. Long time since I posted anything here. This is due to Chinese classes and Teaching English. 

Right now I am on a break though because of the celebration of the Chinese New Year. 

Some weeks ago some friends of mine and I went on a little trip. 

Here we See Wu Lai  (O-Lai)

And here are my friends :) 

One of the first things I saw when we got there was this guy. 

We walked through the village to see some nature. On our way I saw the small things around us. 

There was a river next to us all the time (the one seen in the photos of WuLai) and I kept looking for a way down. In the end I found it. 

They felt content just sitting there, but that's NOT MEEEE.... 

I just had to get into the water. 

Soon enough I was right where I belonged. 

After a while I got David to try it as well.

And David got the other ones to join as well. 

But time ticked on, and soon it was time to get back to Taipei. 

On our way home...

It was a really REALLY nice day. 

Tomorrow is Chinese New Years Eve. 

Jason and I are going to celebrate it together with his family. 

Stay awake

Love Ove. 

Monsanto out of Sweden.... 

Im Dreaming of a White Christmas....

 The Christmas preparations started back in Hong Kong. That's where I bought the cheese and the "Abbas Fiskbullar" (Swedish fish balls)

I went to school in the morning of the 24th (the day Swedish people celebrate) because here in Taiwan, Christmas is nothing special. People have parties and dinners with friends or their boyfriends or girlfriends. Its not a holiday. So... I went to school and after having returned home I prepared for the Christmas celebration Jason and I would have after he returned home from work about 7pm. 

When he got home, the dinner was ready and I was very excited about the fish balls and the omelet with stewed mushrooms that I had made.

(You can see the fish balls in the upper left corner, and the omelet in the lower right corner. Another really important thing is the "JULMUST" in the upper right corner. Its a special Swedish Christmas soda. If there is something that I don't want to miss out on on Christmas eve, then its JULMUST)

 It really looks like I am feeding Jason, but quite that sugar sweet are not the two of us. Its Jason's hand holding the fork. 

The Christmas tree on top of the oven. 

A close up. 

For some reason Jason and I played around with playdou after the gifts had been unwrapped. (It was not one of the gifts opened)

Here is what Jason made. 

And this is mine. Its the "Götheborg 2" for anyone who recognize it.

Candles and julmust and Jason made this Christmas a really good one....
... Even though it wasn't white. 

Stay awake. 

Love Ove