Jeju Island, Kobi, Shimzu and Yokohama
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Jeju, a South Korean island in the Korea Strait, is known for its volcanic landscape full of craters and cave like lava tubes. One of the
first places we visited was The Jeju Museum where we learnt about the ruggedness of the Island. We also were amazed by the Korean Mermaids, haenyo
(women divers on Jeju who can dive up to 5 hours at a time searching the sea bed for abalone, sea urchin, octopus and seaweed. This is a tradition
on Jeju as the women make a living from the sea and work hard. Times are changing and modernity is looming and the independence of women here is now
being undermined. After a lovely tour of the Island including Dragon Rock, we made our way to a marketplace in the main town. What fabulous food was here!!
Fruit, chocolate, fish, prawns and anything else you would want. beautifully fresh and no preservatives.. just wish we had time to eat!! The back
to the ship and off to see Kobe, Japan where we may see Mt Fuji in the distance.
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Arriving in Kobe on a beautiful day started our visit very pleasantly. Kobe is in the south of the main island of Honshu, Japan. We had all
day here to explore and so on the shuttle bus to the main shopping and tourist area and we were away! As we drove we could see the beautiful flower
display all along the roads and it added to the beauty of the place. We were dropped near the Mitsubishi Department Store and found a fabulous
shopping area here. The restaurants abounded and the food selection was amazing! Some restaurants had lines of patient customers waiting to be
admitted and so we thought they must be fabulous. After much looking around art the very modern arcade shops as well as the market lanes, we walked out
and decided to explore. Some way down the road was Meriken Park, a place to remind people of the terrifying Earthquake of 1995 where much of the
city and harbour front was destroyed. A monument has been erected in memory of this disaster. To farewell us in the evening we had a drum band perform on the dock as we sailed. Absolutely brilliant and we were all amazed and entertained watching and it ended too soon!
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Our next port was Shimizu, Japan (Mt Fuji). What a quaint, town full of history and soccer paraphernalia!! After docking we walked
into the town and with our information in hand took a street that would lead to a museum and much more. Many people took this route and we found
some interesting places along the way. A heritage museum was our first stop and then a place of worship, before walking back and looking at the
soccer figures and soccer ball sidewalk structures! They are very fond of their soccer team here so went went and checked out the shop! Then a ride on the Ferris Wheel on the harbour front to get a view!! Fabulous day. A view of Mt Fuji appeared briefly across the water and we were thrilled to
see it! A quick walk through Chinatown and a beautiful temple completed our visit here and on the way back to the ship we spotted children being pushed in a very extraordinary pram..a multi child mover. Great idea! The harbour park was full of local people and tourists just having a great time and there was a garden competition here and that attracted much interest! .
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Yokohama was our next port of call and on arrival we set off in the wrong direction! After a very long walk we came to Yokohama Station that our ship shuttle had ferried people too!! A huge shopping area was located here and after getting lots of help from a wonderful Japanese
man we found the camera shop we were looking for! Then a little bit of looking around and back to the ship. Couldn't help but mention the
marvellous way that cars are stored over here in the garages or parking places. On a lift up in the air. Very space saving and clever too.
The harbour park was full of local people and tourists just having a great time and there was a garden competition here and that attracted much interest! .
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