Earthquake....

Sometimes not being able to get information from the rest of the world has its good sides...otherwise I would have been scared and worried about Paul in Islamabad, where a major earthquake 地震, jishin, (7.6 Richter Scale) occurred saturday morning around 08.00 am. Paul got out unharmed but a lot of buildings did collapse and thousands are feared dead. His hotel and office are still standing (his beloved pool hasn't lost any water either) . I didn't hear about it till I talked to Paul yesterday morning...what a relief. I don't know whether or not he can go on working there or what...he is not supposed to go home till the 14th october. Will see him not till the 3rd december in Bangkok...can't wait.
Down here in rather uneventful Nagasaki, the weekend was spend exploring the town together with Son, a Korean exchange student, Kim and Alexandra, with the Festival still going on...mainly small groups of people running around with replicas of dutch ships and carrying dutch flags, commemorating the arrival of the Dutch in 1602 with their ship 'De Hoop'.
On the left you see replicas of the old houses on the Deshima Island (now surrounded by the rest of Nagasaki), the trading post of the Dutch from 1602 till 1868, at dusk. Sometimes the streets are so narrow that you can just about enter them and they still have shops that sell all kinds of everything.
Saw 'Chinatown' a 2500 square meters only settlement with chinese restaurants and shops that sell anything from ground tiger teeth to 'Mao Tse Tung' postcards.
Received a present, a 'Obi 帯び, a beautifully woven belt to be worn around a summer yukata 夏浴衣, a cotton kimono basically for the summer, from a shop where they only had very expensive ones. Upon commenting this the presented me with one...can you believe it !! Thrilled to bits I was.
Had dinner in the smallest 'Sobaya' そば屋, a normally family run noodle shop where they serve noodles in soup or fried noodles...it had 5 chairs at the bar and that was it. Granddad doing the cooking and the daughter serving it all. Cheapo prices too. Loved it.
Here are some pictures to give you an impression of the weekend.
Tomorrow lectures will start as once again today is a free day (National sports day).
You will find Paul Smith and Katherine Hamnett stores right next to 100 yen stores....weird..no upscale area or so.
Me with my Obi, not draped in the customary way, at 'Starbucks' where the Cafe Latte is fabulous....