DAY ONE
My brother Michiel, is finishing his ‘Artificial Intelligence’ Studies at Osaka University in Japan and my parents and me have decided to visit him when I have time off in November-December so we can celebrate ‘Sinterklaas’ together.
i the JAL 777 plane
We fly with Japan Airlines to Osaka Kansia Airport (KIX). The flight was really nice, the Japanese food on the plane good and the crew very polite and helpful (3 London based crew and the rest Japanese). Lots of snacks and drinks throughout the night and a very advanced entertainment system in which you could choose any of the many films or series to watch and even pause or fwd/rwd. You could also watch the ‘birds eye view’ camera just by the nose wheel of the aircraft, which was particulary nice and interesting to see for take off and landing.
Just as well we had the fantastic entertainment system as the seats were uncomfotable for sleeping and how ever tired I was, I only slept for about an hour tops. I watched 2 series, 2 films and then realized they had a few (quite a few, about 20!!) pre recorded radio stations, where you could go into their play lists, select songs and create your own playlist with the favourite songs! pretty nifty, so I made a playlist and chilled for a bit. The free magazines we picked up at the gate in LHR I didn’t even look at as I was too busy playing with the entertainment system!!
mum, me and Michiel at KIX airport
After a long long journey (12 hours) and a long long time awake (flew to Japan the same day I worked through the night, flying back from Barbados!), we arrived in Japan, where we got picked up by Michiel.
The journey to the guesthouse in Kyoto was very interesting, lots of different undergrounds and trains and another nifty system to buy your tickets. Luckily we had Mchiel there to explain how it works!Look on the map where you want to go, the number behind it indicates the price, you put that money in the machine, select the correct price and collect your ticket! then make sure you get on the correct train line and try and disembark at the correct station. It sounds simple, whoich in effect it is, but we had to change quite a few times and it’s difficult to concentrate on what is going on if you have been awake for about 48 hours!!!
When we arrived at the Guesthouse Yahata at about 6pm local time I was ready to crash, but I managed to stay up for another 2 hours in which we had dinner, luckily around the corner from the Guesthouse. This is another experience. Most restaurants so far have had menu’s with pictures, so you sort of know, or at least think you know, what you are getting, as trying to read the Japanese is just not happening!But the food so far has been really great, so I am not complaining!!!
