Tales from the Orient

On our second day in the city we did something very civilized and went to check out the San Fran Asian Art Museum, allegedly one of the largest collections of Asian Art in the world. And it didn’t fail to impress.

 

The third floor showcased a huge collection of Buddhist and Hindu artifacts. 

This is one of many incarnations of a Buddha, just chilling, happily.

This is a Deity, perhaps a dancing Parvati… The second wife of Shiva. At this point it had taken us an hour to go through only one of three floors so we had to take a break and head to the 'Tastes of Asia' Cafe for lunch before resuming our tour.

The artifacts, although mostly religious were exquisite. You instantly got a sense of someone’s life work going into creating these offerings.

This work of a bronze Deity is Thai.

I’m not sure where this piece is from… The collection covers art and history from South East Asia, China, India, The Himalayas, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Korea and Persia.

This is from China.

The Buddha Shakyamuni which dates back to 1900–1950. It’s also from China made of Nephrite.

These warriors are Japanese. They are each standing atop demons they have defeated.

I liked this piece, she reminds me a little of an Oompa Loompa. Scary little things. She is in fact a Japanese warrior, and probably a man.. Dating back to 500 AD.

Another seated Buddha.

I think this is a Korean Buddha.

This is unmistakably Japanese, however I forget what it ‘is’…  The facial expression is awesome.

Lastly another Japanese piece, a painting on silk screen of Samurai Warriors glaring at oneanother. Very cool. The last exhibit in the Museum was a collection of artifacts from the Chinese Ming Dynasty. Lots of pieces from the famous ‘Forbidden City’. Tres Cool, but no photos allowed!!!!!!!!!

We got excited when we saw ‘Imported’ Asahi. Like it might actually be imported from Japan. Alas… it WAS imported, but cruelly, from Canada! Not quite the same, but better than Coors.

A typical San Francisco day, foggy and cold. And you thought Melbourne weather was shit. I should remind you that this is the middle of summer here… Oh, and that’s Alcatraz in the background.

 

More of Alcatraz, and a Pier. It’s not that far of a swim back to shore??

Another Pier near the Fort Mason area.

Some angsty traveller I encountered. He must be Italian from the headband he's wearing to hold back his flowing locks.

Lots of boats and yachts and people swimming even though I'm sure the water is freezing.

And finally, just in case anyone was concerned we had turned into complete bums, this is tonight's dinner that Leigh arranged. I can't believe we have actually found a US city with superb food and sumptuous cuisine.

Mmmm

And this is a Nanaimo. A delectable Canadian treat we happened upon whist in Whistler. It's pretty much just chocolate, sugar and custard heaped upon a chocolate- coconut base. We couldn't find any to buy here in the States, so these ones we made ourselves. Very tasty, but too sweet.

 

Anyways, that's all for today. Stay tune for more tomorrow.

 

KAT