Sacred Lotus Pond Fukuoka🇯🇵Live from Japan

Sacred Lotus Pond Fukuoka🇯🇵Live from Japan

And good morning and greetings everybody from Fukuoka in Japan. I’m at my Zuru Park. And this is part of the castle ruins here. But we’re not doing that today. We’re going to go down here. Down here. And we’re going into the beautiful, beautiful lotus pond. Sorry about that. I’m still maybe a little bit croaky from my cough. clear up. Anyway, look at this. It’s absolutely beautiful. And we’re going to take a bit of a wander along here, find some of the beautiful uh lotus that are blooming at the moment. You can just see some of them here. I’m in the shade. It’s lovely. It’s 36 today, so it’s pretty hot. So, I don’t want to be live for too long. Just going to share some of these beautiful sacred lotus with you. And of course, as we know, they come out out out of muddy water and they’re absolutely beautiful. They have some special sort of um cleansing system in their leaves. If you’re a a botist, you’ll know what it is where the water and the mud just runs off the leaves and leaves everything absolutely pristine. But let’s walk down and have a look at them up close because they’re absolutely gorgeous. Hey, thanks for joining you guys. Fabulous to see you Monday in the world. But for some of you, you’re just getting there. So when you do, I hope you’re going to have a fabulous day. Monday, the start of the week, of course. Oh, probably not for everybody, but for us, yes, the start of our working week. So, let’s walk down here. Just walking down towards um Ohi Park this summer. Oh, and every part of the plant is edible. So, this is where I am here. So, you can see how big the park is. We had a walk through. Where did we walk through? I think Wow. I’m not sure where we walked last time under the three. We walked over the three bridges, didn’t we? Anyway, there we go. This is what we’ve come to look at. Numbbo nusira. The other flowers that bloom here, of course, the prunes, uh, prune, the plums, sorry, prunis, the roodendron, the irises, the chameleas, lististeria, peony, hydrangeas, and of course also cherry blossoms in season. So, let’s head down here. Oops. Oh park the ruins of Fuku Walker Castle this way. Ohi Park this way. Cororacan Ruin Museum this way. Pretty good. So we are read Ohi Park. That’s the path we walked last time. That way through the middle through right through the middle. Anyway, let’s go. Just got a few steps to Oh, there’s a lotus right here to greet us. Yeah. So, as I was saying, Larry, awesome. Complicated water garden. It is gorgeous. Look, it is beautiful. Wow. [Laughter] Yeah, it’s a huge big pond. And you can see the water is quite muddy and dirty. And then all these beautiful leaves and the flowers come right up out of it. Look at this beautiful big leaf. Look how wide it is. When it’s been raining, the water just sits in the middle until it overbalances and then the water just pours off. Ha. Whoa. This is a gorgeous one. I’ll try and get the leaf away from it so we can have a good look. Look at this. Wow. It’s amazing. How you doing, Larry? Isn’t it gorgeous? So, of course, the pod at the top. Look, it looks a bit like a shower head, doesn’t it? So, lotus leaves. Oh, you can eat every part of the lotus, of course. But, um, I’ve eaten the lotus leaves in Thailand and they came served with like I think it was honey and nuts in them. Um, and you wrapped them up and ate them as a little snack and they were really, really delicious. Really gorgeous. But that seed pod there, those seeds once they’re dried, they can There’s a seed pod just through there. They can last for 1,000 years, it’s pretty amaz. They’re not planted. The pond looks pretty when they’re not when it’s all died off, it looks pretty awful here, really. um it just looks muddy and a lot of dead leaves and I guess the leaves help to um nourish the next generation that are coming through. Amazing, isn’t it? And little breeze, which is lovely at 36°. Getting a little bit of a breeze today. Almost the same. Almost like a magnolia in a way, aren’t they? That’s very, very pale pink that one. I think the flowers only last a day. Not 100% sure about that. Oh, too cold up there. Yeah. Yeah, you need to be in the tropics. You need to be in the tropics for the good ones. Look, here’s I don’t want to fall in the pond. But here’s a nice Oh, come here. Look, there’s a nice one getting ready to open up. Probably tomorrow or maybe later today. But these leaves are huge. Look at them. Hey, Kathy. Aren’t they gorgeous? Yeah. They’re not all out. Um but yeah, they’re And they’re all at different stages. Yeah. 36 today. 36. She’s pretty warm. Yeah. Just looking under all the leaves. Yeah, they’re just fantastic. They’re just amazing. The leaves are just gorgeous themselves. Yeah, nature’s ingenious and really we don’t appreciate it as much as we should and we don’t care for it. That’s the problem. And what happens? The leaves just fall. Big bird’s just got in there, but it’s not a heron. The herand actually sit in these trees over here and wait to Yeah. Amazing. And wait to spot a fish and then they dive in and grab it. They’re pretty amazing. So this weekend, Kathy, you’ll be interested. We’re off to the island. We’re off to Sata. And I’m hoping that the big pots of lotus there at Kosanji Temple, that’s a gorgeous one. Look, um are still flowering. They were just beginning to flower. Oh, got a bit of a cloud going over. They were just beginning to flower when we were there in June. So hopefully they’re in Oh, that’s gorgeous. Look, that’s a postcard. That’s amazing. Look at the colors of green and the the lotus flower just pushing its way up past that big leaf. That’s beautiful. Need to be Oh, it’ be good to have a drone flying over the top of this. It’s the only time I wish I had a drone so we could be looking down on this from above. It would be pretty fabulous. Yes. Yeah. I’m hoping they are. Yes. They were just Yeah. I’m not sure, you know, cuz they’re all growing in pots, so probably a little bit easier to a little bit more manageable than growing wild like this. But the lotus are Yeah, they’re famous there, Kosanji. Amazing. Oh, look at the dead leaves. Yeah. So, when they die off, of course, they sort of like all go like this and then they just drop down into the water. Oh, this is nice. Look. Wow. This one’s really open. Wow. We’re certainly getting around, aren’t we, kids? That gorgeous shrine that we went Oh, this one. Look. Gorgeous shrine that we went to on Saturday. Wow. It was amazing. And got a beautiful goshu in there as well. Oh, there’s the seed pod. Nice. This is gorgeous. It’s getting hot though. I Oh, I can see a tree coming up. Wow. Um, a lot of photographers come here. Not today. It’s probably too hot for them, but I’ve seen them here. Uh, photographers and artists come sketching, of course. Here’s a nice tree here. Stand under the tree for a minute. Oh, but it’s lovely being here in Fukuoku. You know, it’s a beautiful city. It’s close to the beach. There’s a lot to do here. Really amazing public transport system. It’s really really I love this city. I think it’s it’s really Every city in Japan is different. That’s why it’s good to get out and explore not just the three Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo, but get out and explore these sort of cities. They’re so worthwhile. So worthwhile. And you sort of feel like this is the real Japan because there’s not a lot of tourists around. Of course, you can go to some spots and there are, but generally on the buses and the trains, it’s just all the locals. It’s you get a a feel for Yeah. the heart and soul of the place. That’s what I That’s what I’m looking for. The heart and soul. I’m looking for a lotus. Gorgeous. Look. Oh. Oh, there’s some clumps here. Look, a clump. I shouldn’t say that. It’s a bouquet of lotus. Look. But they’re gorgeous with the greenery and then the blue sky today. It’s just fabulous. Then you can see a little bit of the remains of the um the keep there for the castle. Beautiful castle here in the old days. In fact, this was all part of the castle grounds originally. There’s a big seed head through there. Big big one. Oh, hello. Anyway, it’s so nice and peaceful here, isn’t it? But I think I might um Wow. It goes on and on and on. It goes all the way down there. There’s thousands of lotus plants here. And you might in the background be able to hear the cicatas. They’re huge and they’re loud. And I might do a little cicada. Might do a short. Have to keep it really short because they’re absolutely deafening. Um yeah, they’re just incredible. But I’m just going to move back to this tree and then I’m going to say how lovely it was for you all to join me for a walk. And I hope if you’re watching on the replay that you’re enjoying it as well. And I’m always sending you a lotus or three. They’re just gorgeous. But I’ll just get under this tree. I do have a bottle of water with me cuz it’s easy to sort of dehydrate in this. Oh, nice breeze. There’s a heron. He’s going over next door. I’m just going to turn the camera now. Same hat, same me. Hey, thanks everybody. Thanks for joining. Here we are with the lotuses. Look, they’re just fabulous. And look forward to seeing you all again soon. Maybe again today. I’m just not sure. Um, we’ll just see how the day goes. But thanks everybody. Thanks for joining me. Remember, throw away the guide book. Do it yourself. Live, discover, enjoy, feel the heart and soul. And also remember, tread lightly and leave no trace. A lotus is always going to be flowering for us. But take care everybody. Thanks so much for joining. And where’s a nice one to finish with? We want to get up close to a mum for a finishing shot. Got to be a closer close one. Got to be a close one. Ah, here we go. We’re always If you just walk a little bit further, you’re going to find what you’re looking for. That is the story of our lives. Walk a little bit further. Jay, fantastic. Sorry, I have to go because it’s really, really hot and we’ve had a lovely walk and it’s fabulous. Yeah, it’s fabulous to see you. But we’re just finishing with a gorgeous lotus which is almost getting ready to fully open. Look at that. That one’s done its thing. But there we go. But thanks everybody. Thanks for being here today. We’ll catch you again really soon. Take care. Bye for now. Thank you. Bye.

The sacred lotus are just beginning to bloom. I’m in Maizuru Park at Ohori. We are on tour! Just you and me. Let’s get going 🇯🇵This stream is created with #PRISMLiveStudio