street photography – Let the Images Speak

Road Closed

Road closed by water.

The rain had stopped, the sun was out, the water levels remain high.

**Normally, there is a road (path), goes beyond that bridge, kilometers along the river for walkers and cyclists**

**Several hundred meters dry road one can walk** **this side**

May 2024.

2 Special Markets

Two special markets in Guangzhou (Canton).

1) Qingping Chinese Plants (Herbs) Market, in west of Guangzhou. The Market is composed of many little shops, each shop sells more or less the some things. The principal business is wholesale, individual can buy also.

**Those in the rightare Codonopsis pilosula, Dangshen党参, they are the roots of the plant. The traditional chinese medicinal use ofDangshento treat cardiovascular, pulmonary and digestive conditions.**
`The others on the left I don't what they are.`

**Illicium verum,Badian, Chinese star anise (八角), a very common spice**.

**Chenpi 陳皮, the dried peel of Tangerines, one common ingredient in traditional chinese medicine, can be used for daily cooking aswell.**

Ganoderma lucidum,Lingzhi (灵芝), you don’t eat this mushroom directly, must break them into little pieces even in powers, than to make soup or tea with, than drink the liquid. The chinese believe such liquid is very good for the health.

**Qingping Market. There are dried plants, roots, herbes, flowers, fruits (all edible).**

**The shopkeepers are from all over china, the market opened 7/7, closed 2 weeks during the Chinese New Year, when the shopkeepers go home to see their families.**

These 2 items that I bought in the Market:Dried flowers of Hylocereus undatus霸王花, from a cactu in which is very close to Dragon Fruit cactu, but this cactu flower can never turn into fruit; Peach Resin桃胶, it is a resin secreted from the bark of Rosaceae plants such as peach or mountain peach.

Before cooking, dried flowers and peach resin have to be soaked into water for some time, than can be used to cook (with meat for example), Peach Resin can also be used to do a dessert with pear for example.

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2) Tissues Market, in the South-East of Guangzhou. This Tissues Market functions the same way as the market mentioned above: many little shops, shopkeepers are from all over china, opened 7/7, wholsale, closed 2 weeks during Chinese New Year.

March 2024.

Street Shots

Three very popular places (streets) in Tokyo.

1) Omoide Yokocho 思い出横丁 (Shinjuku district 新宿).

**A street has many little restaurants like this**

2) Kabukicho Ichiban-gai Street 歌舞伎町一番街 (Shinjuku district 新宿).

**Kbbukicho Ichiban-gai Street 歌舞伎町一番街**

**Only one idea in my head: got out of here as quick as possible**

3) Ginza 银座. Where the most expensives shops of Tokyo are.

March 2024.

Kiyomizu Temple 清水寺

If you can only visit one place in Kyoto, you should go to Kiyomizu dera Temple 清水寺.

Halfway up Mt. Otowa, one of the peaks in Kyoto’s Higashiyama mountain range, stands Kiyomizu-dera Temple, which is abundantly blessed with nature. It provides landscapes to match each season. https://www.kiyomizudera.or.jp/en/learn/

About 8:30 in the morning
One can see Kiyomizu-dera Temple in the end of the street

**The Temple had many visitors already (it opens at 6 am)**

**仁王門 Nio-mon**
**Main entrance of the Temple**
**14 meters high 10** **meters wide 5 meters long**

**Three story Pagoda of Kiyomzu-dera Temple**

An other 3 level pagoda in the same place, much smaller

**Hondo Main Hall 本堂**
**The Main Hall in Kiyomizu-dera Temple, which stands on the steep cliff of Mt. Otowa**
**is a renowned wooden structure reconstructed in 1633**

**Overlooking the city of Kyoto** **from the Main Hall**
**There were many Sakura just underneath, imagine the full bloom season**

**Otowa no taki (Otowa Waterfall)**
Kiyomizu-dera Temple originates from Otowa Waterfall and takes its name from the pureness of the waters. The clear, gushing waters have long been called “*Konjiki-sui*” (golden water) or “*Enmei-sui*” (life-prolonging water) and are suitable for use in purification. Visitors catch each of the three streams of pure water with ladles and pray for purification of their six senses and to make their wishes come true.

Queued up to go in the Main hall (I didn’t go inside)

**When I come out of the Temple around midday, the street was full of people**
**They either going to the Temple or leaving the Temple**

March 2024.

Kimono

The Kimono is not the daily wear, the Japanese people wear it for some special occasions: wedding, graduation celebration …, as a tourist, you can rent a Kimono for a day, to experience the Japanese traditional wear.

**My friend in Tokyo told me that those girls were going to celebrate the high school graduation**

**Marriage photo | Toshogu Shrine Tokyo 上野東照宮**

**An other marriage event in Meiji Shrine Tokyo明治神宫**

Kimono in the streets of Tokyo and Kyoto

There are some real Kimono wearers, the Geisha. I am like many touristes, very curious about Geisha, I went to Gion祇園, the district in Kyoto you suppose to see them. But or I went there too early, or the Geisha were so discreet that you couldn’t see them, I only saw two of them walked pass me fast and in silence.

Recently, the Kyoto authorities ask the touristes not to approache the Geisha, it’s a profession, not a tourist attraction.

March 2024.

Togetsukyo Bridge 渡月橋

I wanted to go to Japan, I went.

My Grandpa (mother side) worked as a Ingineer in a Water Purification Factory during the years 1930s -1940s, in Southern China, Shantou, the Factory was opened by the Japanese. I always wonder how could he maneged such a family with only one salary: a wife, 9 children and a very big house.

I have two friends in Japan, one is a Cantonese, midwife, gone to Japan also works as Midwife in a Hospital in Tokyo, married to a Japanese and has two lovely daughters; another one is a Japanese, met him in France, he come to France to learn how to make franch cakes, now has a cake shop in the Kyoto area.

I have taken several hundred photos during the trip. I will put them on little by little.

The tourism in Japan is very well recovered. In early March, the Sakura far from full bloom, every toruist spot already full of people, Signs such as “No Tripod allowed” “No Group photography allowed” almost everywhere, to prevent crowd obstruction.

This Bridge is in west of Kyoto, Togetsukyo is a 155 meters bridge build across the Katsura River, which flows leisurely throught Saga Arashiyama, a well known place of scenic beauty in the western hill of Kyoto.