Lake Toya - A First View

We drove over to Lake Toya through wet and windy weather which was still whipping up the waves on the lake as we arrived.  A rescue boat was picking people off one of those hideous peddle yourself swans as we walked along the front, a missed photo opportunity.  Mount Yotei in the background. More on her later.

 The islands in the middle of caldera lake, the biggest is Oshima.

The water front is pretty much deserted during the day as all the tourist are out and about on their coaches.

Apparently we arrived as the weather turn, it had been very wet over the previous week.  The air is so dry here, great for landscape photographs.

Sapporo -Transport

Steet Cars, trams to you and me, ply a single route through the city centre.

Not as cute as a trolley bus of the same era but still more lovable than a bus.  I wonder what the American is for trolley bus?

The tram is coming back into fashion with sex new designs.  Perhaps the network will be expanded too.

Sapporo - The Night Fall

Moiwa hill behind the city is a rope way away.  A cable car to you and me.  

Looking over the city just as the sun was about to set behind the hill turn all the buildings a light shade of orange.  I had preorder the cloud to complete the image.

Turn around and wow, rocket ships on the sky line.

Sapporo - Out and About

A novel way to prevent car crime.

Sculptures all over the place.

A tidy place, in ever meaning of the word.

The old government house during colonial times.

The final stop of the day, the Sapporo Brewery Museum. 

An unusual find was Oyster Black Beer, and very nice it was too.

Sapporo

Our first day in the city and a Sunday.  It was a peoples day, from the sartorial guy in a white suit and bowler hat at the entrance to the Metro

to the gentleman and his cute dog on the University Campus.

Dr. Clarke the American who founded the University at the end of the 19c.

Resting,

before a selfie at the clock tower.

and perhaps the most bizarre of all, the body builders showing off at the Sunday street fair.

Book - Home is a Roof over a Pig

An American family's experience living in rural China.  The title refers to the components that make up the Chinese character for 'home,

 

This is your starter for ten. What is the component for 'wood'?

Gek's Renoir Miniatures

 A Study of Lise,  Water Colour on Paper - 5ins x 3ins

La Parisian, Water Colour on Paper - 5ins x 3ins

Aren't these lovely?  So now we have our own collection of Renoir, Dega, Monet and Turner.  Go to 

http://www.gekart.net/Miniatures/Miniatures.html 

To see more of Gek's miniature paintings.  This is turning into a joint venture, the painter and the frame maker.

Sunrise over Kedah

Up early, couldn't sleep.  Eagle on the left, Firefly on the right.

Worth it I think

Book - George Orwell

I read my first novel at 18, George Orwell's 1984.  When I had finished it I thought, "That explains a lot!!!"  I had to read all his other works after the first to see if they all so insightful and I wasn't disappointed.  This book explains how he could write the way he did about what bothered him,  portraying George as an outsider in every aspect of his life, seeming always to be an observer and not a participant in it.    

Book - The entity

500 years of Vatican intrigue and murder, starting with the Pope of the day trying to do away with our Queen Elizabeth 1 and replace her on the throne of England with Mary, Queen of the Scots. Things seem to have gotten out of hand after that with the Entity going after anyone who stood in the way of the Vatican's agenda, not its religious more its commercial agenda.

Book - Adventures Of A British Master Spy: The Memoirs of Sidney Reilly

If you ever though that the James Bond story lines were a bit far fetched,  then you should read this book. Kiki says " Much of what is thought to be known about him could be false, as Reilly was a master of deception, and most of his life is shrouded in legend". Even if half of it is a true account of what Sidney got up to for British Intelligence, it is still almost unbelievable.  Mind you, James bond was not cast as a Russian Jew.

Dem Clouds Look Real Heavy

 This afternoon's rain clouds looked so laden with water that they could have crashed to earth.

Very dramatic.

Gallery Spot Lights

New spot lights for the wall hung paintings, using LED's powered by batteries.  I's very pleased with the results.  I think that was a humblebrag.

Gallery lights

New lights for the gallery installed together with 30 new paintings done by Gek over our six week stay in Singapore.  Turner and Monet look a likes.  Very good they are too.  I need now to make the 30 frames each made up of 8 machined parts.  That should keep me busy!!!

Toby and Amp in Singapore

Toby and Amp came to stay over night Saturday on their flying visit to Singapore.  Great to see him  again especially as he brought me a bottle of Sapphire Gin!!  Thanks Toby.

Film - Mordecai

Well, Depp at his worst or funniest best, depending on your take on American comedies that involve a lot of gratuitous violence.  Why do they keep doing that?  Violence is not funny.  Slapstick is funny but shoot e'm up violence is not funny.  When will the film makers learn to be just a little more subtle?  Shame to say I did laugh, though.   So much stereotyping of the English, no wonder Americans have a weird view of the English.  Sorry, only 2 on the door for this one, much as it pains me so to do.  We gang of four were the only audience on the day of our cinema visit, and the place was bitterly cold, had us all shivering.

Cameron Highlands - Travel Buddies

Just to the north of Tanah Rata a cafe run by a South American lady married to a Malaysian of Chinese origins who serves a very nice Malay cuisine.  Their son, David, clearly has his own favourites from his mum's menu.

One very happy Chris with his first Carlsberg in 3 days.

Our motley crew at the Smoke House, for afternoon tea.  A really enjoyable 3 days away, with 30 year old memories revisited.

Cameron Highlands - Landies

There are reputed to be 7,000 old Land Rovers in the Cameron Highlands district.  There could be more, nobody knows for sure the true number.  First brought here by the British Army during the Emergency, and imported in numbers since, they are the farmers work horse.  Local's  say they are the only vehicle that can stand the strain of the highlands terrain, a testament to the over engineered early Land Rover design.  No urban softy this one!!  .

The farmers only pay 10% road tax on the Rovers as long as the vehicle is not driven off the Highlands, hence the identifying CH painted on the doors.

It is amazing to drive through the towns up here and pass aging disgracefully, Land Rover after Land Rover, all looking bashed and battered.

But all good things come to an end as they must.  After the final act of cannibalism to keep his mates alive, what remains of the carcass is left by the wayside to become part of nature again.  Ashes to ashes, rust to dust etc.

Cameron Highlands - Ye Olde Smoke House

Built in 1937, the Smoke House  would not look out of place in a Dorset village.  Come to think of it, it doesn't look out of place here, 4,000 feet up in the Malaysian mountains.  Lots of buildings are of the Tudor style around here.

 Around the side, past the rather rust pitted cannon,

to the front, which isn't the front because you enter the building at the back.

And inside a posh restaurant and hotel.

Nice fireplace in the lounge.  This one not used but the bar's log fire of last night could still be smelt.

Cameron Highlands - Houses

 A hill top house on the edge of Brinchang.

Mock Tudor, and black & white decoration to  houses and hotels, is something of a theme in the Cameron architecture. And yes, those chimney are real,  real chimneys at the base of which are real fireplaces.  The annual mean temperature here is 18 deg C and the evenings are cold, down to 8 deg.

Jim Thompson's Cottage. Jim Thompson (Born March 1906 - disappeared March 1967) was an American businessman who helped revitalise the Thai silk industry in the 1950s and 1960s. At the time of his disappearance he was one of the most famous Americans in SE Asia. He was staying at this, the Moonlight bungalow, and it is from here that he took off on his last evening walk never to return.

Seen from the upper BOH Tea plantation tea house veranda.  I think it is an hotel, a sort of  Mock Tutor meets Victorian Queen Anne style San Francisco meets Swiss Cottage Chocolate Box style house. A house with an identity problem. Interesting.