Travellator Begins here...
First we have arrived in Japan safe and sound!
To recap the last few days...
We got up early Sat morning and headed to Mumbai's airport to board our 5 1/2 hr flight to singapore. I watched movies the entire flight (No country for old men and 1/2 of There will be blood) while folo slept and watched Juno!
We arrived to Singapore's airport knowing we'd have a 5 hr layover. But everyone assured us that this would be no problem in that airport. It surely wasn't! There is tons of nature to see, plenty of smoking rooms (or outdoor courtyards to be more specific), shopping and activities. We doodled around from one nature stop to another (i.e. smoking rooms), browsed the shops, picked up a few reading materials and just basically basked in the orderliness, quietness and cleanliness of it all! We rode the train from terminal to terminal and also the moving footpaths (called a travellator - hence the name of the post!)
Toward the end of our stay in Singapore's Changi airport we were both exhausted and ready to get on our next flight to sleep! Unfortunately it was full and not quite as spacious as our first flight but I guess that doesn't matter when you are sleepy!
I ate my first bit of fish on the flight -- the only options were chicken or shrimp, so i started our Japan trip with fish! I had told myself I was going to be open to eating whatever came across my plate and not be picky about being vegetarian. So far so good...
Arrived in KIX (the airport near to Osaka/Kyoto) and found ourselves in another country where we don't know whats going on!! Haha. Upon arrival the pilot said that the temperature was 29 degrees celcius -- WHAT?!?! We were so excited for our 22 degree days and it was only 8:30 a.m.!!! Feeling a bit flustered at the thought of that and hoping that he must be wrong, we headed out to immigration. Had our photos and fingerprints taken for entry, had our bags thoroughly searched by customs (apparently coming from India means we might have drugs on us!) and then walked out to meet our MK Shuttle man who was there waiting for us.
The shuttle guy directed folo to the ATM - now we have money in hand and are ready for the 1 and 1/2 hr drive to kyoto. So far so good.
I knew from reading other people's blogs not to expect much on that drive -- and it really wasn't much to see. Instead I layed down and slept some more to wake up in Kyoto and near our guesthouse. Arriving to our 'neighborhood' was nice -- it was a cute, residential area that felt not much different than other places we've been. Folo said he felt that it was like America.. whereas I felt it was more like some small European city. All of the buildings were small and low to the ground, lots of greenery and CLEAN! Spotless to be exact!
We were greeted warmly (in Japanese) and led to our room. We had booked a traditional japanese inn (called ryokan) for our first two nights (mostly because nothing else was available - but it was also cheaper than hotels - 100 USD per night).
To recap the last few days...
We got up early Sat morning and headed to Mumbai's airport to board our 5 1/2 hr flight to singapore. I watched movies the entire flight (No country for old men and 1/2 of There will be blood) while folo slept and watched Juno!
We arrived to Singapore's airport knowing we'd have a 5 hr layover. But everyone assured us that this would be no problem in that airport. It surely wasn't! There is tons of nature to see, plenty of smoking rooms (or outdoor courtyards to be more specific), shopping and activities. We doodled around from one nature stop to another (i.e. smoking rooms), browsed the shops, picked up a few reading materials and just basically basked in the orderliness, quietness and cleanliness of it all! We rode the train from terminal to terminal and also the moving footpaths (called a travellator - hence the name of the post!)
Toward the end of our stay in Singapore's Changi airport we were both exhausted and ready to get on our next flight to sleep! Unfortunately it was full and not quite as spacious as our first flight but I guess that doesn't matter when you are sleepy!
I ate my first bit of fish on the flight -- the only options were chicken or shrimp, so i started our Japan trip with fish! I had told myself I was going to be open to eating whatever came across my plate and not be picky about being vegetarian. So far so good...
Arrived in KIX (the airport near to Osaka/Kyoto) and found ourselves in another country where we don't know whats going on!! Haha. Upon arrival the pilot said that the temperature was 29 degrees celcius -- WHAT?!?! We were so excited for our 22 degree days and it was only 8:30 a.m.!!! Feeling a bit flustered at the thought of that and hoping that he must be wrong, we headed out to immigration. Had our photos and fingerprints taken for entry, had our bags thoroughly searched by customs (apparently coming from India means we might have drugs on us!) and then walked out to meet our MK Shuttle man who was there waiting for us.
The shuttle guy directed folo to the ATM - now we have money in hand and are ready for the 1 and 1/2 hr drive to kyoto. So far so good.
I knew from reading other people's blogs not to expect much on that drive -- and it really wasn't much to see. Instead I layed down and slept some more to wake up in Kyoto and near our guesthouse. Arriving to our 'neighborhood' was nice -- it was a cute, residential area that felt not much different than other places we've been. Folo said he felt that it was like America.. whereas I felt it was more like some small European city. All of the buildings were small and low to the ground, lots of greenery and CLEAN! Spotless to be exact!
We were greeted warmly (in Japanese) and led to our room. We had booked a traditional japanese inn (called ryokan) for our first two nights (mostly because nothing else was available - but it was also cheaper than hotels - 100 USD per night).
It was a very cute little place with great wooden floors, tatami mats all on the floors and a view out to the garden (if you didn't know it.. kyoto-ites love their gardens!). We got settled in and ready for a shower only to realize that the hot water is only available from 6-9 a.m. and pm! oops. Guess we'll go our first day dirty!!
Labels: Japan - kyoto
posted by slaint @ 12:40 PM
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