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Sumida Panorama

By on October 30, 2011 in iPhone, iPhone Photo Apps, japan, Travel

We were out for a stroll to Tsukiji market yesterday morning and, as I was crossing the Kachidoki Bridge, I decided to test out the AutoStitch Panorama app that has been sitting unused on my iPhone for months. I’m actually pretty impressed with the results (click on the image for a larger version):

The Sumida River taken from Kachidoki Bridge

 

This is a stitch of five separate shots, which the app processes pretty quickly. If you have not held the phone in exactly the same position, you can then crop off any excess space around the image that did not align.

The actual output is a large image, which you can see here (but it’s 3228 x 1372, so there’s scrolling involved). I cropped it down to 1800 x 765 for on-screen viewing, which is here (or, again, you can click the image above).

In the photo, Tsukiji market is on the right (where the yellow boat is) and, behind Tsukiji, that clump of buildings is the Shiodome area. So that you can visualize the location in the context of central Tokyo, this Google map shows where the shot was taken from (the little “A” marker):

Click on map for the actual Google version

I live about a 5-minute walk from the Sumida river and I love being so close to what is, in many ways, a vital element in the history of Tokyo. The whole city was originally built up around the Sumida and, if you’ve never walked along its banks from Chuo-ku to up to Taito-ku, you are missing a big chunk of what has shaped this city since two brothers dragged a statue of the Kannon out of the river 1,380 years ago:

On 18 March 628, two fishermen hauling their catch from the Sumida river found a golden image trapped in the nets. The Hinokuma brothers, credited with finding the statue of Kannon, goddess of mercy, are remembered in Asakusa Shrine, next to the present Asakusa Kannon temple, also known as Senso-ji. Built to house the statue and dedicated in 635, it is the oldest temple in Japan.
(excerpt from Tokyo: A Cultural History, by Stephen Mansfield – a great read on Tokyo)

At the very least, if you don’t want to walk the banks of the Sumida, you should definitely hop on the Suijo-Bus and cruise up the river from Hinode Pier to Asakusa (despite the name, it is not a “bus”, but, instead, a river boat that cruises up to Asakusa at least once an hour).

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Memories of the Mekong

By on September 4, 2011 in iPhone, Photography, Travel

the canal looking a very muddy brown this morning - iPhone + TiltShift + Instagram Hefe filter

When looking out the window this morning, the colour of the canal below was reminiscent of the Mekong River: a muddy brown that had me remembering various moments on the Mekong. One very funny one was years ago in Vietnam, where the boatman insisted on taking us to a bee farm despite our desperate mime act in an attempt to convey the following: severe allergy to bee stings resulting in anaphylactic shock and certain death on a tiny island in the Mekong Delta.

Well, obviously I survived, but we laugh about it to this day as we recall the boatman eating his free lunch (a freshly caught chicken whipped up into some tasty-looking dish), which was clearly his reward for bringing tourists to the island with the bee farm/honey store/restaurant, while we sucked on lychee nuts because there was nothing else for two non-meat eaters to eat. I do have photos of that boat ride, but they are all on film, so I’d have to dig them out and scan them.

Another favourite was stepping out from the Pak Ou caves in Laos (the famous “Buddha Caves” about 25km north of Luang Prabang by boat) and seeing this lovely scene:

looking down at the parked boats in Laos

 

And still another favourite moment was a late afternoon spent perched on a stool in front of a large open window watching the sun set a beautiful pink and gold on the Mekong River in Phnom Penh. I read a book and drank a cold beer and watched a man and his family push off in their small boat:

a fisherman and his family push off in their small boat

So, now, after writing this, I feel the urge to travel…

By the way, this is the usual colour of the canal in front of us:

 

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