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February 2002 Timeline: March 2002 April 2002

Joshua Tree
Joshua Tree, 3 March 2002 		View from Keys View
Joshua Tree, 3 March 2002 		Kiss me...
Joshua Tree, 3 March 2002 		Look of love
Joshua Tree, 3 March 2002
View over the Joshua Tree Valley. Joe, Janice and myself drove up to Palm Springs one Saturday night to visit the park... We were totally underestimating the temperatures there... It was freezing and people were hiking in anoraks and gloves....
View from Keys View, the highest point of Joshua Tree
 an attractive looking Cactus at Cholla Cactus Garden....
 Joe and Janice looking at their Cacti friends in Cholla Cactus Garden of Joshua Tree.
Fluffy
Joshua Tree, 3 March 2002 		Not so fluffy anymore
Joshua Tree, 3 March 2002 		Leaves at the Lost Palm Oasis
Joshua Tree, 3 March 2002 		Po-Mo Westin
Awaji, 18 March 2002
Fluffy looking Cacti photographed against the stark desert mountains in Joshua Tree....
Upon closer look, they don't appear that fluffy anymore.... I really like the gradiation of colours though....
 Leaves photographed against the sun at the Lost Palm Oasis in Joshua Tree....
 The interior design of the Westin Awaji was really amazing, Post Modern to the max.... Never seen anything like it before... Here you can see flower-shaped seats in the entrance hall....
Hotel Lobby
Awaji, 18 March 2002 		Studying the design
Awaji, 18 March 2002 		Flowers of Awaji
Awaji, 19 March 2002 		More flowers in Awaji
Awaji, 19 March 2002
The hotel lobby of the Westin Awaji has a set of world clocks that change color according to the daytime in the other cities. For some reason yellow means night and blue means daytime.... The English worldcup team will stay at this hotel. Hotel staff wore England buttons, but at the conference the chair did the sensible thing and he apologized in advance for the behaviour of his countrymen....
Me, looking around my hotel room in Awaji, looking at a shell painting...
 Some closeup of the Gardens in Awaji....
 More closeup of flowers....
Even more flowers
Awaji, 19 March 2002 		Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge
Awaji, 21 March 2002 		Osaka's skyline
Osaka, 22 March 2002 		To be used by experienced personnel only
Osaka, 22 March 2002
At Awaji Island....
This is the bridge that connects Kobe to Awaji at night.....
 Osaka's cityscape with one of its ferris wheels....
 Finally had to photograph one of the Japanese toilets. Do not push any buttons unless you grew up in Japan....
Merry Christmas in March
Osaka, 22 March 2002 		Haha, always funny....
Osaka, 22 March 2002 		Japanese Mall
Osaka, 22 March 2002 		The Typing of The Dead
Osaka, 22 March 2002
Actually this place is a 'Love Hotel' in which you can 'rest' for hourly use or 'stay' for a night.... In typical Japanese fashion it is modelled after a theme that for Westerners seems to be totally misplaced....
The old Lice/Rice joke and oh, there is a nice reference to German culture in there, too....
 Typical view over a Japanese mall on a Friday night with Teens and Twens rushing to bars, restaurants and arcades... I particularly like the kid that gives me the V sign....
 Only in Japan.... The Typing of the Dead.... Fight against Zombies by typing words that appear on your screen.... and you control the hero Gary, who has a keyboard strapped around his neck in his fight against the Zombies of Dyslexia.
Hopfen und Malg, Gott Erhalts
Osaka, 22 March 2002 		World Cup 2002!
Seoul, 23 March 2002 		Hello Again!
Seoul, 23 March 2002 		Korean temple at night
Seoul, 23 March 2002
The New Muenchen in Osaka.... Was sadly closed that day.... But I would have loved to see how they see German culture over there.... Also have a look at the MugHofClub in Seoul.....
Flags and a huge football outside of City Hall in Seoul, just next to our Hotel....
 Meeting Sohee again in Seoul....
 A temple just right next to the Seoul Tower.
Seoul at Night
Seoul, 23 March 2002 		Selftimers never totally work
Seoul, 23 March 2002 		City Hall of Seoul
Seoul, 23 March 2002 		Train Interrupted
DMZ, 24 March 2002
A view over the city of Seoul at night as seem from Seoul Tower....
This lady with a mouth mask looked at us why we were standing there and then jumped, when the flash went off.... She didn't see the camera on the vending machine...
 Seoul's City Hall with a giant lit up football to celebrate the upcoming worldcup....
 End of the interrupted railway line between the two Koreas. Many banners for peace. Many split families....
Memorabilia
DMZ, 24 March 2002 		If it only could be that easy....
DMZ, 24 March 2002 		Sohee at the DMZ
DMZ, 24 March 2002 		Soldiers in the background
DMZ, 24 March 2002
Wire from the DMZ, limited edition. Hopefully one day it will be in unlimited edition... Other memorabilia were little cute North and South Korean soldiers....
More souvenirs from the DMZ... Cute little Communist and Western soldiers joined together....
 This area is the last one where one can take photos...
 Soldiers at the background observing the military demarcation line.
Liberty Bell at the DMZ
DMZ, 24 March 2002 		The photo I could not take
DMZ, 24 March 2002 		Worldcup Stadium
Seoul, 24 March 2002 		Let the games begin
Seoul, 24 March 2002
This temple and its liberty bell were opened in New Year 2000 as a sign of hope of the two Koreas being able to be reunited in the next century....
At the DMZ there are very strict rules regarding the use of photography. So I was not allowed to take any pictures - needless to say I was devastated ;-) This photo is a model of what I saw.... A giant field, with two giant flagposts showing off the flags of the North and the South. A clear day, seeing the empty Propaganda villages at the North Korea border and in the distance a city of 200,000.... And giant eagles with an enormous wingspan following our bus later, mocking two huge twin-blade helicopters flying before them.....
Korea's main worldcup stadium at the outskirts of Seoul. Outside of it there were some rehousing developments to move the people living in poor conditions next to the stadium into other areas. Very compact stadium, seats 65000, I am sure the atmosphere here will be fantastic.... About 10 miles from the border....
 Sohee in front of the worldcup stadium.....
Porno Ginseng
Seoul, 24 March 2002 		Ginseng Pushers
Seoul, 24 March 2002 		Deutsches Schwein, Gott erhalts
Seoul, 24 March 2002 		The Mug Hof Club
Seoul, 24 March 2002
For some bizarre reason the images of these roots make me feel warm inside... Well, kidding, but they look like a cross between the Alien Resurrection production design and a Helmut Newton Nudes.
Hey, originally we were going to go to the DMZ, but at the end of the tour, we were pushed to buy three year old Ginseng products at this Ginseng store, where they tried to prevent me from taking this photo.... I was certainly more interested in the pornographic Ginseng photos on the wall and my laughing disturbed the pushers....
Zur Feier des Tages: Schweinefleisch.... Come on Goethe-Institut, if this is what the rest of the world thinks about Germany, then you have lots of work to do ;-)
 A few years ago, I remember reading a paper that a South Korean business man opened up a German theme restaurant called 'Hitlerhof'.
California Girl
Seoul, 24 March 2002 		Streets of Seoul
Seoul, 24 March 2002 		Geunjeongmun Entrance Gate to the Gyeongbokgung palace
Seoul, 25 March 2002 		Roofs of the palace....
Seoul, 25 March 2002
As opposed to German Culture, the Seoulians seem to have grasped the concept of California very well.... Sweat off pounds in the gym, 24 hours around the clock.....
Shopping area in Seoul with the obligatory lights..... Lots of nice Korean Restaurants in the area..... Mmmmmhhh, Korean Food....
 Seoul has an enormous amount of old temples, palaces and shrines.... Very beautiful....
Amazing roofs of the Gyeongbokgung palace.... The hall in the middle is where the royalties slept....
Hyangwonjong
Seoul, 25 March 2002 		Temples in Seoul
Seoul, 25 March 2002 		Noisemachine
Seoul, 25 March 2002 		Gyeonghoeru
Seoul, 25 March 2002
For some reason I truly enjoy those Korean names....
Beautiful flowers blooming... Still a few weeks before the Cheery Blossoms....
 Asian schoolkids are the ultimate noisemachines....
 With trees blossoming....
Traditional Korean Costumes
Seoul, 25 March 2002 		Look from the hotel
Seoul, 25 March 2002 		Bridge from the Sky
San Francisco, 27 March 2002 		View onto San Fran
San Francisco, 27 March 2002
Korean women in traditional Korean costumes....
Look from the Westin Chosun hotel on a small temple in front of it... Like almost everything in Seoul it was under construction that day....
 Flying into SFO with a look at the Golden Gate bridge...
 Alcatrazz on the right....
Downtown San Francisco
San Francisco, 27 March 2002 		Dani
Hollywood, 28 March 2002
So much prettier than LA....
My brother's friend Dani visited LA and I hung out with her and some friends of her one evening....
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