nickelass

I have never-ever-ever quiet looked forward to a holiday as much as this one. As my loveliest of flatmates gave me an early morning lift to the airport I knew that I was going to enjoy my time away, anything was better then reality in Sydney at the moment :) I know that traveling solo is something that I enjoy and dislike at the same time but it is very good for me. So my time in Japan would be as follows; after a few days in Kyoto, I was off to Tokyo to meet up with mates before heading to Hakuba for a week of snow.

Check in and security done I stock up my belly on the biggest breakfast I can stomach because I know that when I eat on board planes it usually just results in stomach pains. Considering I had two planes to catch and a few meals in between, it was a preemptive strike. I hunt around for a Australian to Japanese power adapter also. In my search I look at the clock every now and again but I cannot hear the announcements in the shops. I walk out of the news agency to hear the final boarding call for my flight. Opps.

I’ve always looked strangely at those people who run through the airport. How hard is it to make it from check-in to boarding a plane? Today I become one of those people. Naturally my gate is the furthermost away possible. I come hurtling around the corner and fumble for my boarding pass.

Are you [insert my name here]?
Ah yes...
Good. Tanya, we just missing John Smith.

As I walk down towards to plane I hear Tanya squawk "Paging John Smith for flight JQ30 to Osaka via the Gold Coast. This is the final boarding call as the aircraft is in the final stages of departure." Pew. I take my seat and about 10 minutes later the Captain comes on apologising for the delay but "we have had to unload a bag due a missing passenger". The lady next to me groans and looks at me as if to say, 'what bloody idiot checks in then misses a flight?' I shrug my shoulders and smile.

Close doors. Cross check. Taxi. Line up. Goodbye terra firma.

I arrive on the Bogan Gold Coast International Airport. I feel sorry for the Japanese (of whom Jetstar take many) whose first port of call in Australia is this disorganised tin shed between the beach and the highway. I have to check in again anyway but I figure the queue is too long and it’s 2 hours before my flight leaves so, I go for a wonder outside to stretch my legs.


Heading back into the terminal the queue is now longer. Hmm… that plan didn't work out as I had hoped. How many people can you fit on an Airbus? I’m surrounded by rough blond girls in Ugg boots, guy who look like they like girls in Uggs, snow gear and Japanese tourists. When I finally check in I’m given the option of Star Class for a special price of $200. I’m almost tempted but I know this is an up sell and I’m not going to be fooled. Hey, it is not an overnight flight so I’ll just walk around to stretch my legs.

Once we are airborne, the Japanese man next to me finds his headset doesn’t work. The staff offer to move him to a spare seat which is accepts. I raise the arm rest and it looks like I have just created my own star class. For free! Refusing to pay of a damn thing extra I open a ready packed lunch and tuck into a few episodes of Dexter on the iPod.

Around nine hours later we arrive at Kansai International Airport. So it is an airport build out in the bay. Feels like you are landing on water for a while. Apart from that it is the usual Japanese fair for an airport with the required shuttle train between gates, emphasis on gift shops and so on.
I have booked a room nearby but I need some food. Like now. Have a quick bite to eat before looking for the shuttle bus to the hotel. My room is clean, tidy and just want I need. It also features the usual suspects of gadgets required to make a person feel like they are in Japan.


That said it also features the smallest pillow in the world. I had forgotten about this fact from my last trip. I wonder how Japanese people manage to sleep with so little neck and shoulder support. They should also be walking around with there heads tiled to one side like Princes Diana used to be famous for. Still I crash out and sleep free of worry for the first time in months.
I awake realise my hotel is centered in the middle of a construction wasteland. Not in the mood for the hotel's western breakfast I head out to walk in the direction Kinku Station for some food. Where there is a station in Japan, there will be some food.

Checkout and back to the Airport to catch the JR Airport Limited Express train to Kyoto (go the JR Pass!). As the train station the train begins to pull in and from under the escalator stairs a door opens and a bunch of men and women step out in matching uniforms part Olympic opening ceremony get-up and part Addidas on Church St in Parramatta circa 1995.

What happens next is what a Cityrail train never has seen. The seats automatically turn around as a crew jumps of board to clean the train in record time. On the minute the train is cleaned and ready to leave.

The train run from the Airport to Kyoto is quick but as I approach Kyoto station not as quick as it could be. Looking out the window the city never seems to end between Osaka and Kyoto but I can see a blue and white train passing in the distance on what turns out to be the Shinkansen line between Shin-Osaka and Kyoto. Let’s just say anything going between 270 and 285 km per hour makes your own motion seem slow.

Arriving at Kyoto I walk to the bus stop and attempt to work out how the whole bus thing works. After watching a few buses come and go it looks like you get on the back door, get a ticket and then when the bus stops are your stop, you place the ticket and the money (how much I wasn’t too sure) in a little bin next to the driver. Ok, not exactly travel ten stuff but works for me.

Crammed into the bus I think I get off at the correct stop and commence my up roll up the hill towards the Kiyomizu-dera temple. I’ve decided to stay in a Japanese Guest house (Ryokan) called the Hanakiya Inn. After a bit of wondering around getting lost I find it.


Eimi is lovely and her kids are not the average Japanese children because they are very loud, she and I have a laugh about it. It is lovely to be sleeping somewhere were you can hear a normal family going about their lives. The husband leaving the house at the very Japanese time of 6am everyday and returning 10pm that night. The sounds of kids playing. The smell of dinner being prepared in the family kitchen. My room is everything I had hoped for in the way of minimal living.

I will admit that part of the reason I choose this place was in because they also had a puppy!

Hungry for lunch I take the advice of Eimi who has a friend that just opened a restaurant nearby, ‘A bit hard to find but I can tell you how’. Everything is a bit hard to find in Japan but I think that is part of the fun.

I arrive in front of a house that looks like it has a restaurant but I’m not sure. A old Japanese man poke his head out the window and waves me in. I guess hunger must be written on my face.
In my opinion, if you have long legs then Kyoto is a city best scene on foot for the most part. Or a push bike in summer. After lunch I check out the Kiyomizu-dera temple. It is an amazing place.




After a walk around the temple with it’s wooden structure creaking. I see people lining up for something.

I decide to then walk the old path through the streets back into the centre of Kyoto. Along the way I realise that there are many type of trucks and vans that have this symbol.
I ask the man driving this van what he does. After some back and forth we finally agree on the question I’m asking. He ‘gives packages to people’. So they are delivery vans, hence the cat holding the little kitten. It is so Japanese.

I walk through some older parts of town were there are many tea houses.

I cross the river into the town somewhere near Gion (I think... not really to sure where I was now, just walking and walking letting the city unravel). I do a bit of shopping at Takashimaya (Think David Jones but more expensive) as it is clear I’m going to need a pair of warmer socks. I then head back to the inn via the Yasaka Shrine.


Walking along I hear something...
Temple bells ring, it must be around 5 or 6pm? Time to hunt for some dinner.
I eat the usual Japanese dinner and it starts to rain so I head back to the Inn. Before retiring for the night I decided it is best to document the level of packaging that goes into a simple pair of socks.